For The Win
The New Orleans Saints made a solid hire when it became time to finally replace deposed head coach Dennis Allen. For the first time in two decades, New Orleans won’t be coached by Sean Payton or a member of his coaching tree.
Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore will leap into that void after engineering the finest seasons of both Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley’s NFL careers. While any fresh start would be a step down from the Super Bowl champions, going from Philly to the Saints will be an especially precipitous drop.
Here’s what New Orleans can offer Moore, the youngest head coach in the NFL:
the NFL’s 24th-ranked scoring offense
the NFL’s third least-efficient passing offense
the NFL’s 30th-ranked defense in terms of yards allowed
the NFL’s third least-efficient run defense
That’s all expected; head coaching jobs don’t open up because everything’s going well. But New Orleans is in an especially grim position because of the diminishing returns of chasing Payton’s success.
The Saints position in a weak NFC South allowed them to cling to fading shreds of glory with a veteran roster. General manager Mickey Loomis used the salary cap like a credit card, loading contracts with void years and converting salaries to bonuses that had to be paid down the line.
As a result, New Orleans heads into 2025 an estimated $55 million over next season’s salary cap, per Over the Cap. That’s the worst situation in the league, which is remarkable when you consider Deshaun Watson, accused of more than 20 counts of sexual misconduct and what the NFL described as “predatory behavior,” will count for nearly $73 million against the Cleveland Browns’ cap this year.
That means Moore’s 2025 will have to revolve around his young stars and building up from there. Except, well, things aren’t great in that regard either. His quarterback is a soon-to-be 34-year-old Derek Carr, whose two seasons in Louisiana have mostly seem him get the stuffing beaten out of him. Alvin Kamara turns 30 in July and hasn’t averaged positive rushing yards over expected (the yards he gains vs. the yards an average tailback would be expected to gain) since 2020. Taysom Hill will be 35 if he returns from the torn ACL that ended his 2024.
There are bright spots in Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed, though those two combined for just 14 games last fall due to injury. Getting them the ball, however, is a problem behind one of the league’s worst pass-blocking offensive lines.
Pass protection grades of offensive linemen in true pass sets only
Okay yes the Bengals’ guards were Very Bad
What if Jayden Daniels is actually the MVP (just kidding) (sort of)
— Ben Baldwin (@rbsdm.com) January 7, 2025 at 8:03 AM
There’s a similar issue on the defensive side of the ball. Leading tackler Demario Davis is closer to 40 years old than 30. Tyrann Mathieu...
