Canal Street Chronicles
New Orleans will face some harder games on the road this season.
The full 2025 NFL schedule released on Wednesday night, and with it, we finally got a look at the New Orleans Saints schedule. They have one of the easiest schedules in the league, but in my opinion, their road schedule is much tougher than their home schedule.
Of their eight home opponents, I think there’s a pretty clear two toughest games: Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers. The Bucs are defending NFC South champions and had what I thought was a pretty solid draft. On the other hand, San Fran has a really strong roster but were disappointing last season due to some injuries and other factors.
After speaking with some of the other writers and weighing the options, I decided to give Tampa the nod for the toughest home game this season. I think they’re the better offense and their defense should be pretty comparable to the one that finished 17th in points per game allowed last season.
Offensively, the Bucs are still led by Baker Mayfield, who has completely revitalized his career in Tampa and has become one of the best quarterbacks in the NFC. The Saints got to see that firsthand last year. In two games against the Saints, Mayfield threw for 546 yards and six touchdowns, but he did throw four picks. The Bucs were still able to score 78 total points in those two games though, so the picks didn’t really matter.
With Chris Godwin expected back after a season-ending injury last year, the Bucs should have one of the best receiver rooms in the league. Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuka is a nasty trio, and if you keep going deeper into that room, they still have guys like Jalen McMillan and Sterling Sheppard, who can be productive.
At running back, they drafted Bucky Irving to help compliment Rachaad White, but he ended up taking over as RB1 for the Bucs. He rushed for over 1,100 yards and eight touchdowns, and that’s after only getting 10+ carries in two of his first nine games.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Bucs have one of the biggest lines in all of football. Vita Vea anchors at nose tackle while Calijah Kancey, Logan Hall and Yaya Diaby play around him. You also have to consider the fact that 464-pound Demond Watson was signed after the draft and could end up making the roster as well.
The backend of their defense is where things get suspect. They have Jamel Dean, but behind him, things get pretty thin. They retained Tykee Smith and Zyon McCollum, but they gave up 458 and 793 yards respectively last season. They did spend their second and third round picks on Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Paris, two corners, though so we’ll see if they come into play this season.
I’m not too afraid of the Bucs defense, but I think their offense is going to give the...
