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You might have forgotten that the New Orleans Saints finished last season with a winning record. They were 9-8.
It would have been more fitting if they found a way to finish 8-8-1, because since the end of the Sean Payton/Drew Brees era the Saints have settled into boring mediocrity with no end in sight.
They’re 25-26 the past three seasons. They have a quarterback in Derek Carr who is 33 years old and has a $150 million contract, but Saints fans never seemed to embrace him during his first underwhelming season in New Orleans. They have a coach in Dennis Allen who seems likely to be on the hot seat at the end of each season, only to survive to the chagrin of the fans. The Saints’ top two highest paid players for most of the offseason, in terms of cap hits, were running back Alvin Kamara and tight end Taysom Hill before Hill restructured in late spring. Kamara’s best days seem behind him and he plays a devalued position, and Hill will be 34 years old and is the pet project of an old coach who hasn’t been on their sideline since the end of the 2021 season. Hill’s restructure in mid-June cleared up cap space and pushed a larger cap hit to the future. That’s what the Saints do.
The Saints are an astonishing $100.5 million over the projected cap in 2025 according to Spotrac, which is what happens when you constantly restructure deals. And they’re $100.5 million over the 2025 cap without much hope at being a Super Bowl contender. Maybe those type of cap shenanigans made sense when they were trying to squeeze one more Super Bowl out of an all-time great QB in Brees, but with Carr and this cast it’s just a master class in long-term roster mismanagement.
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The Saints won’t be bad this season. They’re just perfectly in the middle of the road without much reason to believe they can be much better. Check out their DVOA ranks from last season: 15th overall, 17th on offense, 15th on defense, 14th on special teams. They won one…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-offseason-power-rankings-no-24-new-orleans-saints-are-stuck-in-boring-mediocrity-121038131.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-06-28 12:10:38
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