The New Orleans Saints offense last season had their struggles, that’s no secret, but when looking closer there was one specific weakness: red zone offense. With Andy Dalton leading the offense, they had troubles closing the deal with touchdowns.
Just look at the numbers: the Saints’ red zone touchdowns percentage dropped from 58.93% in 2021 to 52.08% in 2022. Back in 2020, they were converting at a 71.62%. They finished 21st in the league last season, an unacceptable ranking if you expect to compete, after ranking 18th the year before and fifth-best in 2020.
A large number of their offseason moves could be seen as shoring up that portion of the offense. The additions of running backs Jamaal Williams and Kendre Miller really make sense when you look at their success in the red zone. Williams led the Detroit Lions to a fourth-ranked 66.18% red zone touchdown rate. A sneaky addition was A.T. Perry whose size will certainly help a wide receiver room that didn’t have a ton of red zone threats last season.
Here are all of the new additions and returning Saints red zone stats from last season:
QB Derek Carr
24 completions on 57 attempts (42.11%) for 170 passing yards and 11 touchdowns, 2 interceptions
3 carries for 7 rushing yards
RB Jamaal Williams
57 carries for 107 rushing yards and 16 touchdown runs
2 catches on 2 targets for 5 yards
RB Kendre Miller
Stats at TCU
39 carries for 112 rushing yards and 12 touchdown runs
1 catch for 1 yard
WR A.T. Perry
Stats at Wake Forest
9 receptions for 77 receiving yards and 6 touchdown catches
TE Foster Moreau
2 receptions on 5 targets for 9 receiving yards and 2 touchdown catches
RB Alvin Kamara
20 carries for 38 rushing yards and 2 touchdown runs
7 receptions on 11 targets for 41 receiving yards and 1 touchdown catch
TE Juwan Johnson
7 receptions on 11 targets for 73 receiving yards and 5 touchdown catches
TE Taysom Hill
17 carries for 67 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns
2 receptions on 3 targets for 8 receiving yards and 1 touchdown catch
2 incompletions on 2 pass attempts
WR Chris Olave
7 receptions on 10 targets for 63 receiving yards and 2 touchdown catches
WR Rashid Shaheed
1 reception on 1 target for 8 receiving yards
WR Michael Thomas
3 receptions on 3 targets for 19 receiving yards and 3 touchdown catches
WR Tre'Quan Smith
1 reception on 2 targets for 18 receiving yards and 1 touchdown catch