Can the New Orleans Saints win more than nine games in 2021?
The New Orleans Saints are not the same team that they were a year ago. While every team in the NFL can say that, some have gotten better and many have become worse. New Orleans has shifted more than most.
While that not necessarily a bad thing, they won’t have the firepower on both sides of the ball that they had last season. Given their salary cap situation, the Saints were forced to release some high-impact players.
How is that going to affect their protected wins?
One oddsmaker set the Saints 2021 win count at nine. With Drew Brees not returning, are the Saints doomed to miss ten wins for the first time in four years.
"“The Saints, the defending NFC South champions, stand at nine wins, which seems low. The Saints have had four straight seasons of at least 11 wins per year. It seems unlikely, to say the least, that they’ll go 10-7 or worse,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio noted when talking about PointsBet’s NFC South win projection odds."
Nine wins are what it’s set at.
While that’s still good enough to be in playoff contention especially with a seventh team in the postseason, there’s no denying this team will feel it’s failed if they don’t win a fifth straight NFC South title.
It shouldn’t be too difficult for the Saints to win ten games though, but it’ll be on them and less on their opponents.
With Jameis Winston likely leading the charge, New Orleans must be able to put points on the board. Despite losing Trey Hendrickson, Janoris Jenkins, and Sheldon Rankins, the Saints should have a top-ten defense for when Winston and company struggles.
The bulk of the change will be on the offensive side of the ball. Losing Brees is something the Saints couldn’t have prepared for, but having the NFL’s passing leader in 2019 is almost as good as it gets coming after a future Hall of Famer.
Facing inner-division opponents twice each, the Saints should be able to get four or five wins there.
Another four or five wins with their out-of-division schedule and this team will hit that over. The inability to predict how this offense will dominant and how they cover weaknesses defensively have hampered that win total.
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It feels like New Orleans should be able to get over the nine hump, but with all the change that happened this offseason, it’s certainly not a lock.