Receivers hitting the market is potentially good news for the Saints.
It's certainly getting interesting across the NFL.
Right before the new league year gets here, there's always a lot of shocking moves and fallout when it comes to roster management. There's Joey Bosa getting released by the Los Angeles Chargers, Deebo Samuel getting traded to the Washington Commanders and DK Metcalf wanting out of Seattle, to name a few.
For the New Orleans Saints, one area they need to pay close attention to is the wide receiver market. The amount of saturation from available talent will certainly make the pricing for each wideout interesting.
One of the things I highlighted when I looked at the wide receiver position this offseason was the need for New Orleans to get a legitimate third option for their arsenal.
Even with Shaheed and Olave coming back presumably at full strength for next season, New Orleans has to get a legit third receiving option. Could that be a Marquez Valdes-Scantling? Is that enough? What's the contingency plan for potential injuries? Can the team get growth from Bub Means and Mason Tipton? Those are real important questions for the Saints to answer.
Here's just some of the higher-caliber players and bigger names who will be available when free agency starts, and there's certainly more to follow.
- Chris Godwin, Bucs
- Davante Adams, Jets
- Amari Cooper, Bills
- Stefon Diggs, Texans
- Marquise Brown, Chiefs
- Dyami Brown, Commanders
- Mike Williams, Steelers
- Elijah Moore, Browns
- Keenan Allen, Browns
- DeAndre Hopkins, Chiefs
- Tyler Lockett, Seahawks
- Josh Palmer, Chargers
There's more players who could be looking for new homes, including Brandin Cooks (Cowboys), Robert Woods (Texans), Demarcus Robinson (Rams), Tyler Boyd (Titans), Darius Slayton (Giants), Greg Dortch (Cardinals), JuJu Smith-Schuster (Chiefs) and Olamide Zaccheaus (Commanders). There's certainly a lot more out there, but the bottom line is that the Saints could potentially come up away with a nice third option here.
Some of these players likely won't jump at the first opportunity and could land with a team closer to training camp. However, that strategy doesn't always work either. According to Spotrac, the receiver position had the most amount of contracts (68) during free agency last offseason with a total value of $338.5 million and $176.1 million guaranteed. That sounds like high numbers for sure, but that's about an average of $5 million per receiver. That math doesn't exactly compute that way, but it's just a piece of information.
When you look at how receivers were paid last offseason in free agency, only five players got big multiyear deals (Calvin Ridley, Gabe Davis, Darnell Mooney, Curtis Samuel, Kendrick Bourne). Mike Williams brought in the highest single-year deal at $10 million, and most fell into the one-year category between $1-3 million. That could be the ideal spot for the Saints to shop.
No one could have predicted Marquez Valdes-Scantling essentially coming in off the street and making the impact he did last season in such a short time. It'll be fascinating to see if he can return to New Orleans, because he could honestly help. However, what Kellen Moore wants will ultimately be what it boils down to.
Chris Olave is going into the final year of his deal, and a fifth-year option tag isn't necessarily top of mind right now. Rashid Shaheed also enters the final year of his original two-year, $6.185 million contract extension. So, an argument could also be made on what the future holds for New Orleans, especially because it's alarming at what 2026 could bring.
If the Saints truly are in this 'compete' mode like they believe they're in, then they have to get a higher caliber tool for Keith Williams to work with. They can hope for growth and development, but as we've witnessed over the years, hoping is not an actual business strategy in the NFL.
