Cover photo taken from NBC News.
Welcome to 32 Teams in 32 Days, a daily series leading up to kickoff of the 2025 NFL season where I preview every team in the league as decided by a wheel spin and project what their season will look like. You can keep up with everything right here.
After a solid run of good teams, the wheel has dragged us back down the cellar. In New Orleans, the cap chickens have come home to roost, and the Saints are squarely in the financial hell that they’ve been staring at for years. Because of that, the future in the Big Easy is bleak at best.
Remember when the 2024 Saints were 2-0 with two blowout wins and we all thought, “Huh, maybe this thing could work!” Yeah, me neither. Here we are on the cusp of the ’25 season, and this team is a bonafide disaster.
Seven straight losses after that hot start turned into a 5-12 finish with New Orleans being bogged down by key injury after key injury and dealing with abysmal coaching from Dennis Allen, who was mercifully fired at the end of the season. Between Derek Carr hurting himself on a ridiculous attempt to play the hero — which wound up being his final play in the NFL — Chris Olave suffering two more bad concussions and countless other misfortunes, the Saints put together their worst season since 2005 — their last season before Drew Brees and Sean Payton arrived.
Just to quickly run through the numbers, because they’re bad: the offense was 25th in EPA/play — including 30th in dropback EPA — and 28th in success rate with the offensive line ranking 30th in both pass and run block win rates. The defense was marginally better, sitting at 19th in EPA/play, but they were 30th in rush EPA with a DL that ranked 29th in pass rush win rate and 19th against the run. Nothing stands out from last year’s Saints team because nothing can. It was just horrid all around.
When Carr missed time, the keys were primarily handed to Spencer Rattler. And to put it plainly, the dude just isn’t an NFL quarterback. Among 40 QBs with at least 250 snaps last season, Rattler was tied for last in EPA+CPOE. The only other player on his level of awful? Anthony Richardson. Woof.
When it wasn’t Rattler, it was Jake Haener, who was so much worse that I don’t even want to dive into his numbers.
So, New Orleans had no QB, a horrible offensive line, a decimated group of receivers, a nonexistent pass rush and a Swiss cheese secondary. But surely through the draft and free agency, they got better, right?
Wrong! Because the Saints have damn near $90 million in dead cap thanks to their financial shenanigans of the last decade. As I said, the bill has come due. You can’t name me a big-name free agency move the Saints made because it doesn’t exist. Hell, I’d bet you can’t name me a move they made at all. I mean, even I couldn’t remember anything before doing research for this article. They’re simply in purgatory.
For the sake of mentioning those moves, I’ll say that the secondary has been remade with Isaac Yiadom, Justin Reid and Julian Blackmon to join Kool-Aid McKinstry and Alontae Taylor. Notice I said remade and not upgraded. Davon Godchaux was added to beef up the interior of the defensive line. That’s fine, I guess. On offense, they brought back Brandin Cooks for some reason. And they literally just traded for… Devaughn Vele? Whatever helps new head coach Kellen Moore sleep at night.
Really, the story of this offseason in New Orleans was the draft. For the second year in a row, the Saints took a tackle in the first round, plucking Texas LT Kelvin Banks Jr. to hold down the blind side after slotting last year’s top pick Tailese Fuaga at right tackle. Most of the rest of the draft was spent picking productive defenders like LB Danny Stutsman, S Jonas Sanker, DT Vernon Broughton and LB Fadil Diggs.
But one pick stood above the rest: Tyler Shough. The former Oregon, Texas Tech and Louisville quarterback who spent six years in college and is older than Trey freaking Lance. Though he was not a great college QB, Shough undoubtedly possesses the so-called intangibles that would translate to the pros: size, a live arm, some solid accuracy. But he also has what is known as the “bozo gene,” or what I mentioned last week when talking about Cam Ward, which is thinking you can make every throw when you know you can make any throw.
Shough’s tape has some high highs and some awful lows, and it’s no surprise that he’s not on track to beat out Rattler for the starting job. You’d think a dude that spent six years in college would be pro-ready. Guess not.
It remains to be seen whether or not that’s a disaster of a pick. But I’d have higher hopes for a guy who started college before mask mandates were a thing.
In any case, quarterback certainly doesn’t feel like an improved area for the Saints. Neither does the defensive line. Or the linebackers. Or the secondary. Or the receivers. The only clear upgrade was at left tackle, but the interior of the line is atrocious. So, even if the pass blocking is slightly better, the run blocking won’t be. And the pass blocking might not matter considering there isn’t a capable QB on the roster.
Holy hell. This is even worse than it seems.
X-Factor: Hopes And Prayers
They’re gonna need them. There’s nothing that can save the Saints in 2025. Seriously. In all my years of watching football, I can’t remember many teams entering a season so hopeless and devoid of talent. Maybe Kellen Moore is a competent first-time head coach and maybe Shough develops into a stud and maybe the defense finds a way to play actual NFL football. But those are all either uncertainties or pipe dreams. I don’t see a single tangible thing that can turn the Saints from the abysmal team they are into anything resembling a playoff team. Except for a talk with the man upstairs.
Team MVP: RB Alvin Kamara
I haven’t talked about Kamara this whole time because I was being overwhelmingly negative. But Alvin Kamara isn’t a negative. He’s really the only bright spot the Saints have. It’s like that meme of the guy pointing towards the sky saying, “If no one got me, [blank] got me.” You can always count on the franchise legend to have a productive season with over 1,000 yards and close to 10 touchdowns from scrimmage. He’s certainly at the tail end of his career, but he’s still putting up some very solid numbers and will be a safety blanket for whoever lines up under center in black and gold this season. It’s just a shame that he has to deal with that after the epic highs of his first few years in New Orleans.
Breakout Candidate: QB Tyler Shough
I mean, I had to pick someone. I don’t have much faith in Shough as a pro, but as I said before, the tools are definitely there for something to come to fruition. He’s 6-foot-5 with some solid mobility and a rocket arm. Surely that can be molded into a starting NFL quarterback. Again, I don’t think he’ll start the season over Rattler, but it’s definitely only a matter of time before he sees the field. From that point on, it’s anyone’s guess.
Record Prediction: 2-15
The Saints will be the worst team in the NFL this season and finish with the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, where they will undoubtedly take a quarterback. Who that’ll be remains to be seen, but I imagine it’s either a kid who already plays in the state or one with family ties to the franchise. If you’re curious, the two wins I have on this schedule are against the Giants and Jets, because why not. Gotta give them something to cheer about. But the rest of the NFC South, the AFC East and the whole of the NFC West will run straight through these Saints and send them straight to the gutter. And, considering the circumstances, it’s a long, long way back up to the surface from there.
Next up: 
Carolina Panthers
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