New Orleans Saints fans have waited for two long weeks for the team to do something in free agency, but for the most part, the team refused to bite. The Saints went after Deshaun Watson — and for a scary moment many believed they would actually sign him — and also pursued Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who was lured away by the Chiefs.
Despite those two aggressive efforts, NOLA was ultimately left with….scraps. They re-signed Jameis Winston, Tre’Quan Smith, Deonte Harty, and Bradley Roby, among others, and signed two free agents, Marcus Maye and Kentavius Street.
The Saints’ losses far outweigh their gains, though, and the team was forced to say goodbye to their premier offensive tackle Terron Armstead and arguably their best defensive back, Marcus Williams.
After an exhilarating first wave of free agency (for other NFL teams, not the Saints), NOLA can still win the offseason by addressing four major positions of need. They may find some quality reinforcements in the upcoming draft, but by and large they must do something, anything, to patch up the most tattered and thinning parts of their roster. With plenty of cap space freed from their Watson pursuit, New Orleans has no excuse.
These are the Saints’ four biggest remaining needs in free agency — we don’t think they’ll surprise you.
4. Offensive Line
Losing Armstead hurt, but the Saints had a feeling they were going to lose him, anyway. In his absence, NOLA will likely plug in left tackle James Hurst, who often filled in for Armstead last season when Armstead was injured.
Hurst surprisingly grew into one of the team’s most consistent offensive linemen, ranking second on the team in overall snaps (940). He showed versatility by playing three different positions throughout the season and finished with a respectable 69.8 Pro Football Focus grade, good for 12th in the league among offensive tackles.
NOLA could also move Ramczyk to the left and have Hurst cover the right. Either way, not too many problems there.
The issue starts with Cesar Ruiz, a 2020 first-round pick who struggled all last year at center and right guard. While Ruiz could still experience a jump in production this season, his unreliability and lowered ceiling have many clamoring for an upgrade at his position.
Other guard Andrus Peat has proven himself to be a solid run-blocker who has battled through injuries and gradually increased his PFF grade year after year, but as competent as he is, the Saints could do better.
Aside from Ryan Ramczyk, the Saints’ offensive line feels shaky at best and needs the extra depth this season, especially if they want to give Jameis Winston a chance to perform well in his comeback year.
3. Defensive Tackle
Just two years ago, the Saints boasted one of the league’s deepest defensive tackle units, but after parting ways with key players like Sheldon Rankins and Malcom Brown, the team’s interior defense has declined a bit.
Last year, a rotation of David Onyemata, Shy Tuttle, Malcolm Roach, and Albert Huggins kept the Saints’ run defense elite, and the team finished fourth overall against the run. That marks NOLA’s fourth straight year with a top-five run defense, but the Saints will need fresh bodies to keep disrupting offenses in 2022.
To address the position, New Orleans picked up Kentavius Street, a starting-caliber player with valuable experience playing inside. They could throw previously undrafted tackle Jalen Dalton in the mix, too, and hope he improves in a big way after suffering a season-ending injury in 2021.
The Saints will likely continue bolstering the position in the 2022 draft, but if they want a sizeable upgrade from Roach or Huggins, both of whom underperformed last season, they could continue sifting through a talented defensive tackle free agent market. Signing Street was a good start, but they have more work to do to maintain their pristine reputation of being one of the best run defenses in the league.
2. Tight End
Compared to the league’s top tight ends, Saints’ Adam Trautman ranks pretty far down there. The 2020 third-rounder got his limelight in 2021 as the team’s primary tight end, but he failed to make much of an impact.
In 13 games, Trautman recorded 27 catches for 263 yards, finding the end zone just twice. Despite seeing an uptick in usage, Trautman’s efficiency and catch percentage has free-fallen off a cliff and entering Year 3 in the league, he becomes little more than a liability.
Behind him, previously undrafted Penn State product Juwan Johnson could see more snaps, but Johnson’s production last season was spotty as well. Part of that may be due to the sheer amount of turnover in the Saints offense in 2021, what with a three or four-quarterback rotation and a constantly injured offensive line, so more stability this time around should give Trautman and Johnson a better chance to succeed.
Even so, NOLA’s tight end room is bare, and the free agent tight end market is perhaps even barer. After the league’s elite tight ends got franchise-tagged or signed early in free agency, New Orleans will have to address this position in the draft. Snatching up a mostly unproven talent at tight end is far from ideal, but at this stage in the game, the Saints don’t have better options.
1. Wide Receiver
The Saints recently re-signed Tre’Quan Smith and….notice how no one is jumping for joy. After Smith disappointed everyone with his measly production last season, he serves a fringe WR3 role at best and will have to re-earn the confidence of his team.
The only good things going for the Saints at this position is the return of Michael Thomas and Jameis Winston confidently starting under center. The quarterback drama of 2021 did not help the team generate any semblance of chemistry between Winston/ Hill/ Siemian and the wide receiver room, so hopefully this season will see Winston building more offensive rhythm with his pass-catchers.
As of right now, he has one incredibly talented receiver who hasn’t played since 2020 and a handful of semi-productive supporting weapons. Smith, Marquez Callaway, and Deonte Harty composed the Saints’ wide receiver room last year, and none of them hit 700 receiving yards. We started to see Callaway improve toward the end of the season under the arm of Winston, but NOLA can’t afford to start slow again and risk missing the playoffs.
Fans will remember the team signing veterans Chris Hogan and Kenny Stills as a sad and desperate effort to improve the roster, but those players merely added quantity, not quality to the receiver room.
Come the start of a new season, the Saints’ goal for the wide receiver room should be fairly obvious: sign at least one quality starting-caliber WR2 to pair with Thomas, and add younger talents with the potential to grow into a starting role. While NOLA will no doubt look to the draft for options, the team also must strongly consider spending some of their precious cap space on a free agent wide receiver.
Last season taught the team the importance of having a capable and consistent receiver room. We’ll see if they’ve learned in 2022.
For better or worse, much of the Saints’ offensive success will depend on Thomas’ productive return. If he doesn’t perform well or if he gets injured again, all of this goes out of the window, and it’s back to square one.