New Offense

IMO this will be the most interesting offenses we have had in a long time. I think it got to a point where Payton was burned out. Between the lack of weapons, and the decline of Brees, these last few years Payton had to be really creative (to a fault at times) for our offense to peform. Which is why we saw more Taysom and a very high reliance on Kamara and Thomas. And it all ended pretty badly last year with a horrible offense. Our record and defense didn’t make last year seem as bad cause we went 9-8 but we were at rock bottom. The o line was bad and injured, the pass catchers were bad, we couldn’t run the ball.

I actually think the hiring of Allen wasn’t only to keep continuity, but because we were no longer winning with our offense, we were winning because of our defensive. We didn’t become a defense first team LAST YEAR, we became one three years ago when we won with Bridgewater.

Payton was obviously an offensive genius, but this season's team just has so many more weapons now that he did not have his last few years. So this is my run down of this new offense.

PASS CATCHERS

With the addition of Landry, the Saints now have SIX wideouts we should feel comfortable with in Thomas, Olave, Landry, Smith, Callaway, and Harty/Harris. This in turn makes us less reliant on production from a TE position where we have question marks. Now instead of us relying on Trautman to produce, whatever he gives is extra. Who is now in Year 3, and will hopefully have an entire year with 1 QB. I think we tend to forget last year was his first year starting and having to be a main target with 4 different QBs throwing to him. Now he will have a full training camp and WR help. I think he will be better.

RUSHING
This is a spot where a lot of fans have concern and its understandable especially if Kamara has to miss 6 games. But because of his success, I think we have started to over use Kamara. Yes, he is excellent at catching the ball, but we were starting to run him into the ground too. Kamara had 240 attempts in 13 games. In 2020 he played in 15 games and had 53 LESS carries, but had more yards and more touchdowns. Matter of fact, Kamara had never eclipsed 200 carries in his career(!) before last season. Furthermore, in Sean Payton's tenure, we have never had a RB get that many carries (the most was ingram at 220) and Kamara only played in 13 games. Because of this, many fans were thinking that the Saints would draft a RB. But It came as no surprise to me that they didn't. Let me read off some names for yall: Mike Bell, Pierre Thomas, Chris Ivroy, Khiry Robinson, Tim Hightower. This Saints offense has never been this reliant on the running back. I think the blessing of Kamara has skewd the perception of the running back with the Saints. This used to be a run by committee style of running game. I would not be surprised if we are using Ingram, Jones, Washington and now maybe Smith more. Also this is where Taysom Hill will make his money. Now that he's not a QB anymore, his ability to run the ball will be used heavily. That is why we did not use a pick on a running back. IMO, with a healthy O line a running game of Kamara, Ingram, Hill, and maybe Jones/Shaw will be just fine. Maybe they pick up a D'ernst Johnson or a Carlos Hyde when later in the off season, but it makes sense why they did not draft one.

O LINE
This is a sneaky interesting position group for the Saints. I think McCoy and Ram are great, but we have questions about the rest. And IMO the largest question is Andrus Peat. he has to produce a FULL season for us this year. He costs too much money for him not to produce. And we need his versatility and his run blocking. On the other hand, I am more optimistic about Ruiz. I think his first full season starting was hard. He was supposed to be a young player learning around a good veteran O line group. Instead, he was the only one consistently playing with everyone else hurt. There was chaos around him, and he struggled. I think he plays better this year because of that adversity, and he will have McCoy on one side of him and Ram on the other side. And then Penning. I mountain of a man, let's see what he can do as a rookie. James Hurst is a solid tackle, but hopefully he can remain a backup swing tackle. That would mean great things from Penning. I really think the our O line, which has been solid for years, will really make or break this offense.

QUARTERBACK
Jameis, Jameis, Jameis. I feel like he has grown up, now lets see what he can do on the field. Even though he's coming back from injury, I think this will be his first year where he can breath. NO QB competition, and he should be healthy for training camp and so on. He has the weapons and defense in place for him to succeed. I really hope he can become great. We know he is talented, let's see what happens.

For the first time in a long time, I have no clue what to expect from this offense. It's scary, but exciting at the same time. Im so ready for the season because I truly don't know what to expect.