State of the Franchise - New Orleans Saints

2017 Record: 11-5 – NFC South Divisional Winners

Last playoff appearance: 2017

Head Coach: Sean Payton (Record 105-71)

GM: Micky Loomis

2017 Performance

It really was a case of being so near, but yet, so far for the Saints in 2017. One missed tackle, by Marcus Williams, allowed the Vikings’ Stefon Diggs to race to the endzone and into the NFC Championship game to play against the eventual Superbowl winners, the Philadelphia Eagles.

A sad way to the end a season of such promise with a much improved defense and two rookie superstars making huge contributions. The season started poorly for the Saints, they kicked off in the place where their season would finish, at the US Bank Stadium, Minnesota. The Saints defense looked like, well, the Saints defense of old as the Vikings outgained the Saints 470 to 344 yards.

It didn’t get easier, in Week 2, hosting the Patriots who everybody expected to rebound from their opening week loss at home to the Chiefs. Brady threw for over 400 yards as the Patriots, easily, got past a poor Saints team, 36-20, leaving New Orleans in a 0-2 hole.

On paper, the week 3 trip to the top ranked defensive unit in Carolina, for a divisional match up, seemed a nightmare proposition but, finally, the Saints clicked, on both sides of the ball, with Drew Brees shredding the Panthers, for 3 passing touchdowns, whilst the running game produced 149 yards.

London Calling, and I was there too…

A soggy Wembley Stadium awaited the Saints and “home team” Dolphins. The Saints played the conditions perfectly, running the ball at will and shutting out the Dolphins 20-0.

Following the Week 5 bye, the Saints returned home for a wild 52-38 win over the Detroit Lions. Rookies, Alvin Kamara and Marshon Lattimore, shone in a huge win for the Saints to move them to 3-2 on the season.

Week 7 saw a tough journey to Wisconsin as the Saints faced the Aaron Rodgers-less Packers. In a mistake prone game, a late score from a QB sneak saw Saints get the spoils with a 26-17 win.

Week 8 saw Drew Brees throw for 299 yards in a tough home game against the Chicago Bears, the Saints eventually winning 20-12.

The Saints then recorded their 6th straight win as Alvin Kamara had six receptions for 84 yards in a regulation win against divisional rivals, Tampa Bay.

A week 10 trip to Buffalo saw a rolling Saints team punish the Bills 47-10 even without a Drew Brees touchdown pass. The Saints duo of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara ran, at will, against a porous Bills defense combining for 298 yards with 32 first downs. The Saints limited the Bills offense to a total of 198 yards. The Saints set a franchise record, for rushing, with 6 touchdowns in a game.

The Saints were now on fire as a poor, 3-6, Redskins team came into town. With six minutes of the game left, however, they found themselves 31-16 down to a Kirk Cousins inspired effort. Two touchdown passes, and a 2-point conversion later, the Saints levelled to take it to overtime where a Will Lutz 28-yard field goal took them to 8-2.

Week 12 brought a tough match up, in LA, against the Rams and, despite the best efforts of Brees and Kamara, the Rams came away worthy winners 26-20.

The Saints got back to winning ways against the Carolina Panthers, 31-21, limiting the Panthers to 279 total yards.

The Week 14 match up came after a short week as the Saints headed up to Atlanta, on a Thursday night, to face the surging Falcons. Despite the Saints intercepting Matt Ryan three times, Drew Brees was intercepted himself in the endzone, with a minute left, as the Falcons held on to win 20-17.

Mark Ingram ran for two touchdowns, and gained 151 yards from scrimmage including a late 50-yard TD run, as the Saints overcame three turnovers to defeat the struggling New York Jets, 31-19, in week 15.

A quickfire rematch, at home to the Falcons, saw a great defensive effort as the Saints clinched a play-off berth by beating Atlanta 23-13. A late Marshon Lattimore interception, at his own 2 yard line, was the key play in the win.

A final regular season game, on New Year’s Eve, ended disappointingly as the Saints conceded a late Jameis Winston touchdown to lose 31-24. The Saints finished the regular season with an 11-5 record. Despite the defeat, the Saints won the NFC South Division for the first time in 6 years. During the game, Alvin Kamara returned a kickoff 106 yards for a touchdown and also had a rushing TD. The Saints soon found out they will host division rival, Carolina Panthers, in the NFC wild-card round the following Sunday.

The wild-card game really was wild as Drew Brees passed for 376 yards, and two touchdowns, as the Saints held off Carolina's late comeback bid to seal a 31-26 victory. The Panthers had a first down, on the Saints 26-yard line, with 58 seconds left but heavy pressure by All-Pro defensive end, Cameron Jordan, and an intentional grounding penalty on Carolina quarterback, Cam Newton, made it third-and-25 with left 22 seconds on the clock.

After an incompletion, in the end zone on third down, Vonn Bell sacked Newton ensuring the Saints swept all three meetings with Carolina during the season. In addition, the Saints won their first playoff game in four seasons.

It is still hard to write about the divisional match up with the Vikings after such a painful loss. The miracle catch, on the final play of the game, is a tough way for a season to end.

An awful way to end a season of much promise but there’s lots of optimism entering the 2018 season. The Saints finished second in total offense and were improved in every defensive category.

Additionally, it was clear that the Saints had hit some serious home runs in the 2017 draft as Alvin Kamara, Marshon Lattimore and Ryan Ramczyk became superstars at their respective positions and added an extra dimension to the Saints offensively and defensively.

2018 Roster Moves

It has, so far, been a quiet offseason in New Orleans with a only few roster moves announced prior to the 2018 Draft. Offensive Tackle, Zach Strief, announced his retirement and Tight End, Coby Fleener, was released.

Drew Brees signed a new, franchise friendly contract to ensure stability at the position.

To counter the Fleener move, Benjamin Watson was signed in March. The Saints then added restricted free agent Receiver, Cameron Meredith, after the Bears, surprisingly, did not match the Saints offer sheet.

2018 Draft

Unfortunately, I have to give New Orleans a “D” rating for their 2018 draft picks. However, that can all change as we found out with the spectacular success of the rookies chosen 12 months ago.

Here’s my biggest concern - The Saints made one of the boldest, and therefore riskiest, moves of the entire draft by trading away next year’s first-round pick, and a 2018 fifth-rounder, to move up from No. 27 to No. 14 to select Defensive End, Marcus Davenport, from UT San Antonio.

That’s a lot to pay for any one player especially considering New Orleans was already missing a second-round pick this year. Davenport is considered a bit of a raw, developmental talent but he has the size (6-foot-6, 264 pounds) to play end in a 4-3 system and every team needs good pass rushers. If Davenport ends up being a Von Miller/Ziggy Ansah type player, the D grade soon changes.

Round 3 saw the Saints add a Wide Receiver into the mix, taking UCF’s Tre’Quan Smith.

Rick Leonard, a massive Offensive Tackle from Florida State, was taken in Round 4. Leonard has time to develop behind established tackles, Ramczyk and Armstead.

Rounds 5 and 6 saw the Saints take a couple of Defensive Backs, Natrell Jamerson and Kamrin Moore, from Wisconsin and Boston College respectively which adds good depth to this important position. Round 6 saw the selection of Boston Scott to add competition in the Running Back room.

The final pick was an offensive lineman, Will Clapp, from LSU who has the ability to develop and contribute in the near future.

2018 Starters

Offense

QB – Drew Brees

RB1 – Alvin Kamara*

RB2 – Mark Ingram*

WR1 – Michael Thomas

WR2 – Ted Ginn Jr

WR3 – Cameron Meredith

TE – Josh Hill

LT – Terron Armstead

LG – Andrus Peat

C – Max Unger

RG – Larry Warford

RT – Ryan Ramczyk

Defense

DE – Cameron Jordan

DT – Tyeler Davison

DT – David Onyemata

DE – Sheldon Rankins

SLB – AJ Klein

MLB – Demario Davis

WLB – Alex Anzalone

CB – Marshon Lattimore

CB – Ken Crawley

S – Vonn Bell

S – Marcus Williams

Special Team

LS – Zach Wood

K – Wil Lutz

P – Thomas Morstead

2018 Outlook

The asterisk against Kamara and Ingram, on the starter list above, highlights an issue in the first quarter of the 2018 season as Mark Ingram will serve a 4- game suspension. However, the Saints have the Quarterback in Brees and one of the league’s best offensive lines to overcome this setback. It seems strange talking about New Orleans’ defense in a positive way but 2017 saw a great improvement and this is expected to continue, in 2018, particularly if they can work first round draft pick Marcus Davenport into solidly productive playing time.

Apart from the opening few weeks, the Saints’ schedule is going to be tough to overcome. Already in the NFL’s toughest division, they face key match ups with the Rams, Vikings, Steelers and Cowboys. There will be great optimism, after such a good 2017 season, with a settled coaching staff, offensive line, quarterback and defense. Saints fans have every right to start thinking about a trip to Atlanta in February 2019!

Written By Paul Whittaker, NFL Analyst, New Orleans Saints