New Orleans Saints Should Be NFC Contenders This Season

After losing Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints wouldn’t stay down for long. Too many times do teams lose starting quarterbacks and spend time fumbling through draft picks to find their replacement. Not the Saints, however. There were a few struggle years, but they were given a gift. When the Las Vegas Raiders cut Derek Carr, NO pounced on the chance to sign him. They weren’t waiting to see if they had the right guy in the draft. With plenty of talent still on the roster, they moved for the veteran experience. Carr was never fully appreciated as a Raider, but will he make them serious contenders in the NFC this year?

Derek Carr might not be considered at the top of the NFL food chain by some, but he’s nowhere near the bottom. With the right talent around him, he’s not far removed from the playoffs before last season. Then Jon Gruden had to go and mess it all up. We have to wonder if Gruden was still there, would the Raiders have moved on from Derek Carr? Josh McDaniels clearly wanted to bring his type of QB in and Carr got the cut in favor of a more familiar Jimmy Garrapolo. But Saints fans shouldn’t be too worried about Carr.

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What the New Orleans Saints have done is brought in someone to bridge the gap. They have too much money tied up to be aggressive for the best players available in free agency so they have to maximize their offseason moves. If they bring in a guy such as Derek Carr who has proven he can get a team to the playoffs it allows them to attack the draft more efficiently.

In 2022 the New Orleans Saints had Andy Dalton throwing the most yards. Dalton is on the back end of his career and his best days are long behind him. Carr is 4 years younger and approaching his wall, yet is still an upgrade from Dalton. With that being said, going back on the season, the Saints had one receiver (Chris Olave) barely over 1,000 yards. Their run game with all its star power and no running back hit the 1,000-yard mark.

So what do the New Orleans Saints do to fix that? If you bring in a rookie QB there’s no guarantee he’s going to be NFL-ready. In order to get one that might be close, more often than not you’re drafting in the first round. That’s a huge red flag when a team is lacking in the skilled position areas. Without the proper talent around him, that young QB is going to struggle from day one.

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By bringing in a guy like Derek Carr to hold his place, the Saints can now take their first-round pick and use it toward other positions. By signing a talented RB like Jamaal Williams to pair with Alvin Kamara, both those positions have been secured pre-draft. Now they can go out and get one of the top WRs on the board in the first round if they want. Chances are they’ll tip their strategy in the draft away from the offense altogether.

So how does that play into their ability to be contenders this year? With Tom Brady retiring, the New Orleans Saints now have the best quarterback in their division. The Carolina Panthers traded up and will likely go with their rookie pick. The Atlanta Falcons signed Taylor Heinicke who has experience but isn’t quite on Carr’s level. Tampa Bay handed the reigns over to Baker Mayfield and despite his success, he can’t find consistency.

The NFC is a mess right now. There are no real dominant QBs quite like the AFC which has Jackson, Allen, Burrow, Lawrence, (potentially) Rodgers, Mahomes, and Herbert. The NFC is nowhere near as competitive. If the Saints can go in and draft the right skill positions they should jump up into playoff contention in 2023.