ESPN has the perfect superlative to describe the Saints' passive offseason

At the end of every school year, students often vote for superlatives— most likely to succeed, most athletic, etc. While the NFL isn’t a school, superlatives can still be handed out. That’s what Bill Barnwell did in a recent piece for ESPN, separating things by conferences, Barnwell reflected on the draft and free agency, as well as any other moves, “to encapsulate what [he] learned about each team by handing every team a superlative.”

For the New Orleans Saints, their superlative was a true reflection of their rather dull offseason. Barnwell named New Orleans the “Team most likely to run it back.” Simply put, this is because the Saints didn’t make many major additions, essentially going into next season a lot like how they ended last season.

Saints named most likely team to run it back by ESPN

Barnwell pretty much explained how New Orleans’ offseason approach was affected by the team’s “annual protest against the NFL's salary cap.” The Saints spent the early portion of the offseason getting under the cap. Once they became a cap compliant team, they didn’t have much space to be aggressive in free agency. As a result, Chase Young was the biggest acquisition for New Orleans.

Based on how things went in 2023, Barnwell argues that the Saints should have made drastic changes this offseason. Since they didn’t do that, the belief is that “the New Orleans team you saw in 2023 is mostly going to be the players you see on the field in 2024, just one year older.”

Everything Barnwell said is true. However, he didn’t really dive into how running things back will fare for the Saints. On paper, New Orleans certainly doesn’t seem like a Super Bowl contender. But, the Saints do seem like a team that could win a mediocre NFC South. That gets them into the playoffs. Is that enough to keep everything in New Orleans together?

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