Canal Street Chronicles
I consistently have my glass half full.
Sadly, the 2024 NFL season was bleh for the New Orleans Saints. That has to be admitted upfront. 5 - 12 record - Bad, having to fire your head coach mid-season - Bad, (regardless of what you think of him) having your 34-year-old QB retire out of nowhere - Bad. Coming in 4th in the NFC South, this was potentially the biggest issue of all.
I have moved on but there’s a personal mantra that I live with in sports... I get one day to suffer the end of a season but an eternity to celebrate the victories and the haters will be furious. So far, we’ve done a lot of great work here at Canal Street Chronicles preparing people for previews of next season and the different position groups, but this is completely why I’m hopeful based on vibes and anecdotes.
Number one reason for hope next year is truly I don’t think it can get much worse than that without getting better. 5-12 is bad but it’s not that bad and not sniffing a top 3 pick bad. Just statistically in the universe, the Saints either have to have a better record next year or get a really good draft pick to get an impact player. Basic math.
To me excitement does not mean that it will be good, so if the offense takes a bit to get things going, please don’t come back blaming me. What I can guarantee is that there is going to be excitement. There’s new blood in the coaching offices and there’s a head coach that is offensive minded. We might be in for seeing new schemes and new ways to unleash the offensive firepower that could be there. Dennis Allen had a background in defense and came with being a former piece of the Sean Payton era. Kellen Moore is a new commodity in the building, and he is a bright offensive mind. The Eagles put up 55 points in the NFC Championship game, the most by any team in a championship game ever.
Additionally, there is going to be a new Day 1 starting quarterback. I thought Derek Carr was a decent QB and I don’t know that anyone on the roster now is better than him, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Spencer Rattler is more exciting of a proposition than him and if Tyler Shough can beat him out for the starting job, he has to be pretty good. Sorry Jake, but I think it’s probably between those two.
The Saints also have a new defensive coordinator as well. Brandon Staley has a great pedigree coming into New Orleans and I have to be 100% honest and say that if you went through a list of my favorite Saints players of all time, several of them are currently on...
