Saints have a murky future

By: Jake Rajala

The New Orleans Saints have a new coach named Kellen Moore and a rookie quarterback by the name of Tyler Shough. I believe there will be a lot of growing pains for the new duo. I expect Derek Carr to miss a chunk of 2025. I believe he will get the keys for a quarter of the year, but he won’t be able to save the team that went 5-12 last season. With that said, I’m going to untwine a few reasons that the Saints will be the Aints in 2025 and in a prime spot to get the first overall pick in 2026.

• Age

Cameron Jordan is 36 in July, Demario Davis is 36, and the Honey Badger is 33 in mid-May. It’s clear that Jordan is washed up. He has six sacks in the past two seasons combined! PFF handed him a grade of 57.4 last season! Davis is also not an All-Pro player anymore. He only had two sacks, five tackles for loss, and two QB hits. The Honey Badger had a few ints and several pass deflections, but his Pro Bowl days are behind him.

• CB spot

It won’t be easy for the Saints to shut down opposing WRs this upcoming season. They traded away Marshon Lattimore in the middle of last season and then they decided not to re-sign Paulson Adebo. Alontae Taylor is a quality CB, but he can’t be a one-man army. It wouldn’t be a massive surprise if they reeled in Jalen Ramsey.

• Defensive Tackle

The Saints have defensive tackle Bryan Bresse, who can really get after the passer, as he had 7.5 sacks last season. However, they need more beef in their interior DL, especially if they want to stop the run. The Saints were 30th in rushing yards allowed last season! Vernon Braughton could be a modest rotational DT, but he’s not going to be like Jalen Carter or Chris Jones.

The Saints are in a dark place. They need to rebuild their defense soon and Derek Carr will likely be gone within 1-2 seasons. Alvin Kamara is also on his last legs, as he turns 30 in July. I believe their bright spot is at the WR spot, where Chris Olave and Rasheed Shaheed can wreak havoc for a long time. I also like their tackle combination with Taliese Fuaga and Kelvin Banks Jr. It won’t be easy for the Saints to win with their decaying defense over the next few seasons. The Cincinnati Bengals were routinely putting up fireworks on offense and they still couldn’t escape a dreadful defense, as they missed the playoffs. Perhaps the Saints can draft an elite LB or stud CB in the next couple of drafts.