One team’s fired coach could be another team’s treasure. While the New Orleans Saints don’t currently have a coaching staff position available, there is a chance they open up a search at offensive coordinator this offseason. If they do, one of their top candidates may have just hit the market in former New York Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
The New York offense ranked No. 29 in scoring, No. 25 in total yardage, No. 30 in EPA/play and No. 26 in offensive DVOA. So what make LaFleur a candidate for consideration? Truth is, here’s a lot of context to be considered around what went wrong in the Big Apple.
The Jets’ quarterback situation was dismal through the year bouncing from Zach Wilson to Mike White to Joe Flacco and back again. None of those signal callers have inspired much confidence aside from Flacco much earlier in his career. Additionally, a running back that can do it all is pivotal to LaFleur’s scheme. Once rookie back Breece Hall was ruled out for the season with injury, everything changed for LaFleur’s offense.
This is shameless scapegoating. LaFleur was not the problem and should be snatched up quickly. https://t.co/Lw5yb0j9hz
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) January 11, 2023
There’s precedent for this success, by the way. Kyle Shanahan is now the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers but before that, he made a leap from the Cleveland Browns’ offensive coordinator position to the same role with the Atlanta Falcons. His numbers went from the No. 27 scoring offense and ranking No. 23 in total yards to the No. 1 scoring offense while filing in at No. 2 in total yards gained in a matter of two years. Once he found the personnel he needed to fully execute his system, things leveled off. The same could happen for LaFleur while the Saints roster is under reconstruction at major positions like quarterback.
Bother of Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, Mike comes from the Shanahan coaching tree. We gave our thoughts on 49ers passing game coordinator Bobby Slowik as another possible target a few days ago. We did so with the example of LaFleur’s success (before things fell apart) with the Jets as positive evidence. His scheme is one that fans would love to see in New Orleans and does a lot of what they asked to see from the Saints this year.
LaFleur blends precise short and intermediate attacks (taking what the defense gives them) with a heavy infusion of misdirection. That includes pre-snap motion, play flow misdirection and more. Just go watch one of the Jets’ early-season games and you see it. The way he then continued to maximize the skills of rookie wide receiver Garrett Wilson despite the quarterback carousel deserves praise as well. Now imagine what he could do with Wilson’s former teammate in New Orleans, Chris Olave along with rising star Rashid Shaheed.
Early in the season, the Saints and Jets were on opposite sides of the spectrum when it came to pre-snap motion. With the New Orleans ranking near the bottom of the NFL (31) and the Jets in the top ten (9) in pre-snap motion rate. Additionally, the Saints were caught being a bit predictable with their motion at the snap as well. Moving players post-snap on 31% of their run plays and on only %1 of their passing plays per ESPN’s Seth Walder. Not ideal. Motion should not be ignore in today’s NFL and it is clearly a part of LaFleur’s DNA which could benefit the Saints if they open up an offensive coordinator search.
New Orlean is also uniquely positions to answer the running back issue LaFleur was presented with thanks to one of the league’s best in Alvin Kamara. The former offensive rookie of the year could go from massively underutilized in 2022, to having an offense built around his skills set in 2023. Don’t let the Jets’ end-season offensive rankings fool you. LaFleur is a solid play designer, play caller and schemer. He’ll need to learn how to adjust with his personnel when injuries do inevitably happen and the Saints would need to invest in their running back room around Kamara. But that’s something both should be looking to do this offseason anyway.
