New Orleans Saints offense part of ‘critical flaws’ tier per PFF

The New Orleans Saints offense has a new look this year, as it’s entering the first year without Drew Brees as the quarterback. It’ll be a weird sight for Saints fans, as Brees was the quarterback of this team for 15 years and won the franchise’s only Super Bowl title.

With Brees off to retirement, it makes sense that people are skeptical about the Saints, especially their offense. As a result, it isn’t surprising that the offense continues to be ranked in the middle of the pack on most rankings.

Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus put all of the NFL offenses into five different tiers and the Saints fell squarely in the fourth tier, which was “Critical Flaws”.

Monson offered this analysis:

"The Saints offense may be heading into a season without Drew Brees for the first time since 2006, but let’s remember how successful Sean Payton has been with other quarterbacks pinch-hitting for Brees over the past couple of years. Whether Taysom Hill or Jameis Winston ends up as the starter, this offense will likely still have a modicum of success, particularly as they are working behind a top-five offensive line."

Monson brings up an excellent point of how well the offense has performed even when Brees has been unavailable. Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill kept the team at the top of the NFC South when they were tasked with taking over and that’s a testament to Sean Payton’s coaching style. He’s one of the best for a reason.

The New Orleans Saints offense has critical flaws

Not only do the Saints have a question mark at the most important position in the game, but even if Brees was returning for the 2021 season, they’d probably still be put roughly in this same spot. They might have been able to make it into the third tier, which is “the chasing pack” but with the lack of proven wide receivers on the roster, the offense isn’t in a great position.

With the Saints’ quarterbacks not inspiring a lot of confidence so far in camp, it’s easy for fans to start to worry about what this offense could look like when the season begins. There are still several weeks to go before the 2021 Saints take the field for their first regular-season game and that means there’s plenty of time to work out the kinks with this group.

Payton is an offensive mastermind and he’ll figure out a way to get the offense flowing. Fans should know that they can rely on him for that.

For the time being though, it’s hard to argue with Monson putting New Orleans in this tier. They have Alvin Kamara and an incredible offensive line but questions at the quarterback spot and no proven receivers will make things tough for them to shed the ‘critical flaws’ label.