NFL offseason grades don’t carry much value, but they are a good measuring stick for finding how different teams (and their offseason strategies) are being perceived. So how do the New Orleans Saints stack up against the rest of the NFC South? Their road to the playoffs runs through the division, and it’s worth keeping up with them to see how each squad compares.
Pro Football Focus analyst Trevor Sikkema graded the Saints’ offseason thus far with a B-plus, which was better than the Atlanta Falcons (C-minus) and Carolina Panthers (C-plus), but a little behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (A), who won the division last season. Still, its’ good to see the Saints on the right side of the bell curve. Here’s why he says they earned such a strong grade from Sikkema:
The Saints no longer have Michael Thomas, Jameis Winston and Andrus Peat from last year’s team, but those losses don’t hurt their overall outlook. On the flip side, they added Chase Young and Willie Gay while extending Tyrann Mathieu.
New Orleans’ top two draft picks, Taliese Fuaga and Kool-Aid McKinstry, can make an impact in Year 1, and I like the flier on Spencer Rattler in the fifth round as a developmental quarterback behind Derek Carr.
And they aren’t finished yet — June 1 is rapidly approaching, at which point the Saints (and every other team) will get a little financial relief from past departures like Thomas and Winston. They’ll also enjoy greater flexibility for players carrying high salary cap hits like Alvin Kamara ($18.5 million) and Taysom Hill ($14.6 million), while making it more viable to trade Marshon Lattimore, even if that appears to be a lower possibility than it was before the NFL draft.
So while the big moves are settled and it doesn’t appear they’ll be adding any starters or hot names, we can’t rule out more movement from the Saints over the summer. They still have some obvious flaws to address on both offense (depth at the skill positions, and a vacancy at left guard) and defense (more pass rush help and another defensive tackle), but this is a roster they clearly feel is ready to compete in the fall. They felt that way last year, too. Maybe this time they’ll get it right.
