New Orleans Saints still have a top 10 offense even without Drew Brees

Some might think that the New Orleans Saints‘ offense will take a step back without Drew Brees but that might not be the case. Jared Dubin of CBS Sports has the Saints as the No. 10 best offense entering the 2021 season, which is high praise considering Brees isn’t on the roster for the first time since 2005.

Dubin offered this analysis:

"The Saints, as usual, have an excellent roster. The questions here are at quarterback (Jameis Winston or Taysom Hill?) and a curious lack of wide receiver depth beyond Michael Thomas. Maybe tight end Adam Trautman makes up for that somehow, but we can’t just assume it."

It’s safe to say that Alvin Kamara and the Saints running game played a major factor in this ranking. Kamara has had over 1,300 yards from scrimmage in each of his four seasons at the helm and those numbers will continue to grow with the quarterback questions.

Speaking of quarterback questions, should the Saints go with Jameis Winston as their signal-caller, he’s no bum at the position. He went No. 1 overall just six years ago and in his final year with the Bucs, he threw for over 5,100 yards and 33 touchdowns. Yes, the 30 interceptions are an ugly blemish, but Winston can sling it with the best of them, there’s no debating that.

The New Orleans Saints’ offense is still one of the best.

Dubin mentioned how there’s a big question mark behind Michael Thomas at wide receiver and that’s definitely a knock on the Saints’ offense. Tre’Quan Smith is fine and Marquez Callaway is promising despite signing as a UDFA, but the Saints need that next level WR2 to really complete their offense. As Dubin said, maybe Adam Trautman steps into that role this year and becomes a wrecking ball whenever he gets the ball in his hands.

While it’s great that the Saints still look to have a top 10 offense, the unfortunate part of this list is that so do two other NFC South teams. The Buccaneers are ranked No. 2, just behind the high-power Chiefs, and the Falcons are ranked one spot ahead of New Orleans. It’s going to be an offensive bloodbath in the NFC South this year but the Saints are used to that by now.

Usually when teams get a new quarterback, their offense takes a major dip. The fact that the Saints are still a top 10 offense without their Hall of Fame quarterback shows how well this roster has been put together and how good of a coach Sean Payton is.