PFF recently shared their NFL roster rankings for all 32 teams from around the league, which provide comprehensive breakdowns of each team's strengths, weaknesses, X-factors, and rookies to watch. According to them, the passing offense was the biggest weakness of the New Orleans Saints biggest in 2024.
This does make some sense, as the passing offense was close to the bottom of the league in total passing yards (23rd with 3,730), touchdowns (22nd with 21), rating (23rd with 85.3), and completion percentage (30th at 61.7 percent.
New Orleans also saw three different starting quarterbacks and suffered major injuries to their offensive core.
QB struggles derailed the 2024 season for the New Orleans Saints
At the beginning of the season, the Saints started with Derek Carr, but in Week 5, he suffered an injury to his oblique.
During the time that Carr was out, Spencer Rattler, who was selected in the fifth round, would start the next four games; however, he wound up losing each of them. Additionally, He would get benched in his third start against the Chargers after starting out 12-for-24 for 156 yards.
Carr would return for two games before injuring his hand against the Giants in Week 14. The following week, second-year quarterback Jake Haener would make his first NFL start.
Unfortunately, he suffered from a case of the yips and went 4-for-10 for 49 yards and one interception before getting pulled for Rattler at the start of the second quarter. Furthermore, Haener was sacked three times for a loss of 29 yards before being taken out.
However, it's important to note that the offensive line lost all of its interior starting offensive linemen (left guard Lucas Patrick, center Erik McCoy, and right guard Cesar Ruiz) for the majority of their season.
So, the quarterbacks shouldn't be to blame for all of the passing game woes. I don't think any quarterback would've found success behind the Saints' offensive line.
