The New Orleans Saints just wrapped up one of the more disappointing and confusing seasons for a NFL team in recent history.
They entered the 2024 campaign with low expectations, but after throttling their first two opponents and posting up 40-plus points in back-to-back wins to start the year, the Saints were suddenly on the radar of everyone in the NFL.
And then, the wheels began to slowly fall off until the entire operation crumbled in the middle of the season which forced major moves to be made before the 2024 campaign came to an end.
The two losses to start the year suddenly turned into a seven game losing streak that resulted in head coach Dennis Allen being fired and Special Teams coach Darren Rizzi taking over as the interim HC.
Rizzi clearly infused a spark into a team that had lost all confidence and momentum, and led New Orleans to two-straight victories in his first two games leading the Saints.
But an injury to starting QB Derek Carr — who has been inconsistent since leaving the Raiders to become the starting signal caller in New Orleans —led to Jake Haener getting a chance to start and rookie Spencer Rattler closing out the season.
Ultimately, the New Orleans Saints lost five of their last six games and finished the year with a (5-12) record.
The organization obviously has massive decisions to make this offseason starting with the head coaching hire, but no matter who takes the job, there are significant issues on the roster that will need to be addressed by the new staff before accepting the position or once they get in place and evaluate the roster.
The Saints have a projected scalar cap of nearly -$80 million for the 2025 season which means they are going to have to find ways to clear the books, and the easiest way to do that is to move on from veteran contracts that are set to take big chunks of change away from the pot next season.
With a complete rebuild and overhaul looming, Matt Holder of Bleacher Report predicts the Saints may move on from multiple veteran household names in an effort to clear cap space and begin to build a younger roster with new talent.
Holder mentioned five names the Saints should consider moving on from and all of them have been foundational pieces for at least the last few seasons, with others in New Orleans for more than a decade:
Several veterans should be on the chopping block like Derek Carr, as cutting Carr could save $30 million. Also, it wouldn't be surprising to see the club move on from Cameron Jordan ($11 million), Ryan Ramczyk ($18 million), Taysom Hill ($10 million) and Demario Davis ($4 million), among others.
Those guys have been foundational players for New Orleans in the past, but they're getting older and the club can't keep restructuring deals and expect to get out of the rut it's been in. The team hasn't made the playoffs since 2020 despite keeping its core together and the roster is aging
While Holder mentioned a top free agency target for every other NFC team in the piece, he doubled-down on his sentiment and said the Saints shouldn’t target anyone in free agency, but instead, “move on from older players.”
As mentioned above, the Saints have been mediocre at best over the last several years and the salary-cap hole in 2025 is significant, to say the least. Instead of targeting more veterans on the open market, the organization should embrace a rebuild and prioritize moving on from players while looking to stockpile as many draft picks as possible.
