Why the New Orleans Saints are Quietly a Super Bowl Contender

After the 15-year reign of Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints have recently discovered what it is like to be a sub-par football team. With quarterbacks consisting of Taysom Hill, Trevor Siemian, Ian Book, Teddy Bridgewater, and last but certainly not least Jameis Winston, it has been hard to watch the Saints play. During this period of suffering, however, there has been some excellent rebuilding which has gone seemingly unnoticed.

On the defensive side of the ball, we are looking at a sure-fire top 5 defense. With arguably the best secondary in football, they will suffocate opposing quarterbacks and take the ball away. Led by the established Marshon Lattimore, who causes Mike Evans to cry twice a year, consider opposing WR1s in trouble. Additionally, the second-year rising star Alontae Taylor, who runs a 4.36 40-yard dash, has already proven to be an issue for some of the best receivers in the league. Third-round draft pick Paulson Adebo has taken a jump as well, with 4 interceptions this year so far. Add safeties Marcus Maye and Tyran Mathieu into the equation, and you have the perfect blend of elite veterans and young studs to shut down opposing quarterbacks. In fact, the Saints are currently first in interceptions (12), with many more to come. At linebacker, Demario Davis has been an absolute terror, ranked #1 by Pro Football Focus halfway through the season. By his side is Pete Werner, who is proving himself with 53 tackles and an interception. The one mediocre part of the unit is their average run defense. That being said, the improvements to the pass rush from Carl Granderson (5.5 Sacks, 1FF) have begun to make up for this shortcoming.

On the offensive side of the ball, we are starting to see things click. Kamara has returned and has started to shake off some of the hesitation that he has run with in the past few years, allowing the passing game to finally open up for himself and others. Taysom Hill looks better than ever, averaging 5.2 on the ground, 20 catches through the air, and 5 completions. He has truly settled in as an elite tight end on first/ second down and long, and a cheat code running back on third/ fourth and short. Additionally, the organization has built up a near perfect receiving group.

1. Michael Thomas (38/439/1): For short gains and first-down possession catches, he has proved to still be an elite receiver. Acting as Derek Carr’s most reliable option thus far, 5 catches for 50 yards is almost guaranteed each Sunday.

2. Chris Olave (50/563/2): Having a similar game to Cooper Kupp, he can play anywhere and thrives in the open field. As long as Carr doesn’t throw him into CTE, he should keep getting better.

3. Rashid Shaheed (26/501/3): A true deep ball threat, who doubles as one of the best punt returners in the league. He has iced multiple games on go-route connections from Carr this season alone.

With these weapons, all that was left to improve was quarterback, and Derek Carr has done nothing but impress. After being dropped into a completely new offense, Carr has thrown for 2,121 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. There is no reason for these numbers to stop improving as he continues to get acclimated, and we don’t doubt one of these receivers truly starting to explode.

So then why are the Saints sometimes looking like Bishop Sycamore? The short answer is that Dennis Allen is a bad head coach and that the team needed a few weeks to gel with Derek Carr at the helm. With a Mickey Mouse level of competition in the NFC South, the path to the playoffs and beyond is inevitable.