NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Saints have been languishing outside the playoff picture for four years and now are hoping rookie coach Kellen Moore can improve their prospects for a return to contention.
How long the road back to relevance winds up being could hinge on how well the club uses its nine 2025 draft choices, starting with the ninth overall pick in the first round.
Entering 2017, the Saints were in a three-year playoff drought when a fruitful draft that included cornerback Marshon Lattimore, right tackle Ryan Ramczyk and running back Alvin Kamara produced a return to the postseason that same year.
By the 2018 season, the Saints were the No. 1 playoff seed in the NFC, hosted the conference title game and were perhaps one late blown call away from going to the Super Bowl. That was the second of four straight playoff seasons before New Orleans’ current drought, the start of which coincided with the retirement of record-setting quarterback Drew Brees after the 2020 season.
Now Moore has brought new schemes on offense and defense and already has begun the process of making roster moves aimed at fitting personnel to those schemes.
There have been free-agent signings of likely starters on the interior of the offensive and defensive lines (guard Dillon Radunz and nose tackle Davon Godchaux), at wide receiver (Brandin Cooks) and at defensive back (Justin Reid).
“I feel like we’re heading in the right direction,” Moore told reporters during recent NFL meetings in Palm Beach, Florida.
A good draft would help consolidate those recent gains.
Need
The Saints will need a quarterback soon, if not this year. Would-be starter Derek Carr, who has struggled with consistency and injuries during his first two seasons in New Orleans, is now 34 years old and has two years remaining on his contract. Meanwhile, Moore is an offensive play-caller who presumably would want to choose his QB eventually, but for now has inherited Carr. So it’s not all that far-fetched that the Saints could trade up in the first round to snag Miami’s Cam Ward, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders or Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart.
The Saints have other young QBs on the roster — Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler — but they struggled as spot starters when Carr was injured last season. New Orleans also has shown pre-draft interest in Louisville’s Tyler Shough and Texas’ Quinn Ewers.
Meanwhile, the Saints top two cornerbacks entering last season are no longer on the club. They traded Lattimore and Paulson Adebo left in free agency. The Saints still have Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry, but could be in the market to add more depth there, and draft analysts have mentioned Michigan’s Will Johnson or East Carolina’s Shavon Revel Jr. as potential prospects for New Orleans.
The Saints offensive line was beat up last season and often struggled. The signings of Radunz and Will Clapp were meant to address that, but there could be options to draft LSU’s Will Campbell or Missouri’s Armand Membou as well.
The Saints also could use another pass-rusher to join Chase Young and Cam Jordan on the edge. Draft analysts see Georgia’s Jalon Walker as an option there.
Don’t need
With Alvin Kamara having signed an extension last season, running back is not an urgent need for New Orleans. But if Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty is available, the Saints could be tempted to take him.
At receiver, the return of Cooks to the club that drafted him in 2014 added veteran depth to a unit led by Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed.
At tight end, the Saints recently recommitted to veteran Juwan Johnson. They hope second-year pro Dallin Holker develops into a receiving threat, have veteran Foster Moreau on the roster (although he’s recovering from a late-season knee injury) and also added veteran tight end Jack Stoll in free agency. Versatile tight end Taysom Hill remains on the roster, too, and he tries to come back effectively from a major knee injury.
Demario Davis and Peter Werner are set to return as starting linebackers, reducing pressure to fill voids at that position with draft picks.
Picks aplenty
In addition to choosing ninth overall, New Orleans entered April with one second-round pick (40th overall), two third rounders (71st and 93rd), two fourth-rounders (112th and 131st), one sixth-round selection (184th), and two picks in the seventh round (248th and 254th).
That volume of picks gives the Saints the option to package some of those in trades up or down the draft board.
