Kellen Moore believes in building around your players, but the New Orleans Saints are set up to build around Moore — or whoever their next head coach ends up being.
Good coaches understand you have to be adaptable with your playbook. It’s a mindset that is expressed when Moore spoke the media Monday night: “You build around your players. There’s different styles we’ve played over the years and that’s the fun part of it.”
When you have Saquon Barkley on your team, you tend to run the football a lot. No one did it more frequently than the Philadelphia Eagles. They led the NFL with 621 rushing attempts this season. No other team had more than 554 (the Baltimore Ravens).
However, outside of Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Erik McCoy and Taliese Fuaga, there aren’t a lot of building blocks for a new coach to work with. The Saints are in need of real roster reconstruction, which should give Moore (or someone like him) more fluidity early in his tenure.
With an innovative coach like Moore leading the charge, he would have the opportunity to bring in the type of players he wants for his system immediately instead of working around what pieces are there. So long as the Saints are patient and trust in his process, anyway.
Year 1 they will have some holdover, but he can start the process of shaping the roster immediately through the draft. Outside of McCoy and Kamara there’s no one who is locked into their role. Fuaga could change sides, and New Orleans may look to bring in another impact receiver or rusher in the draft.
The Saints didn’t do a lot well in 2024. They ran the ball well early in the season, but they still have room to grow and be more balanced. Being pass-heavy may be the only thing off the table.
One point of rigidity is the quarterback room. If their new coach truly doesn’t like the options available to him, he may feel leaning on the run is mandatory.
Moore has the right idea of adapting to his players, and one day he’ll have to do it. Where the Saints are currently, however, would allow him to shape this team in his vision quickly.
