Saints WR group outlook

By: Jake Rajala

The New Orleans Saints have a high-end WR trio in my opinion. The Saints clear-cut WR1 Chris Olave only managed to play in eight games last season, but he cracked 1k receiving yards in his rookie and sophomore seasons. He still had an 82.4 PFF grade last season – which was 15th among WRs.

Rashid Shaheed was projected to break out last season and it appeared he was on pace to be one of the best deep threats in the league. Unfortunately, he was only able to play in six games, due to injury. He was on pace for 988 yards. He reminds me a lot of Desean Jackson and a bit of Tyreek Hill.

The Saints reunited with Brandin Cooks this off-season. Just as Who Dat Nation welcomed home Jimmy Graham a couple of seasons ago, they brought home former first-round pick Brandin Cooks. Cooks had a career-low season in a Cowboys offense that witnessed Dak Prescott only play eight games last season. In 2023, Cooks hauled in eight touchdowns, which was one below his career high. Cooks is still 31 years old, so he has a few more seasons left in the tank.

I don’t love that the Saints didn’t bring back MVS, who was playing at a high level last season. He was averaging 22.6 YPC last season. He was a prolific deep threat and more than just a replacement for Shaheed. MVS went to Seattle to play under former Saints OC Klint Kubiak.

The Saints arguably have more speed at their wide receiver spot than any other WR group in the league (Yes, even the Miami Dolphins). Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, and Brandin Cooks can all run sub 4.40 40 yard dashes. Shaheed can run the 40 yard dash in 4.3 seconds! I would say that Shaheed is the most explosive wideout of the group.

I would still like to see the Saints bring in free agent Amari Cooper. Cooper had a personal best 1,250 receiving yards in 2023. He had a career-low 547 yards last season. I will give him somewhat of a break – as he played in the Browns offense for six games.

I would say that the Saints have a WR group that’s ranked between Top-10 and Top-15. Olave is a B+, Shaheed is a B, and Cooks is a C+. Olave is an electric WR, but he’s not a Top-10 WR in my opinion. Shaheed could raise his grade with a full season of play. Then Cooks could still burn a defense, but I’m concerned about his route running and catching ability at this stage in his career.