The Athletic's Mike Sando spoke with executives around the league for their take on each team's offseason so far, and they didn't hold back when it came to the New Orleans Saints. With the 2025 NFL draft just three weeks away, even Mickey Loomis's peers don't know what he's thinking.
“It is easy to say from afar, but of all the teams, New Orleans, you can go get Arch Manning!” one team executive told Sando. “Tear the thing down! You are not really competitive, you have no answer at QB, you are bloated, you have cap issues and in a year, the prodigal son could return home. What am I missing?”
The Saints punted a lot of money into future years with their routine round of contract restructures, but the cost of doing that was high. Now they have guys like Demario Davis, Tyrann Mathieu, and Cameron Jordan all entering the final year of their contracts. If they retire or don't return in 2026, the Saints would take on a staggering $42.26 million in dead money. This same anonymous executive added, “If the Saints said they were blowing it up, their fans would all get it. This is a year you probably could have traded Derek Carr.”
Look at what the Seattle Seahawks just got for trading Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders: a 2025 third-round pick at No. 92 overall. Seattle is still paying $13.5 million for Smith's last contract, but they turned around and signed Sam Darnold in free agency after his breakout year with the Minnesota Vikings. Had the Saints traded Carr instead of restructuring him, they would still be paying more than $40 million in dead money this year. And that's something Carr would have had to agree to thanks to his no-trade clause. While likely (multiple reports have said he wanted out after the team fired head coach Dennis Allen), that is not guaranteed.
Either way, he's here now. And the Saints have made some additions this offseason. One free agent they added who rival executives are high on? Longtime Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid. A different team personnel man told Sando, “That is one of the guys Kansas City is going to miss on defense. He’s low key a really good player that nobody gives the credit he deserves, primarily because he doesn’t force turnovers. He is an enforcer, a good tackler, physical and consistent.”
Reid should help the Saints win some football games this year. But to that other exec's point, the Saints are kind of rudderless. They missed an opportunity to get out of Carr's contract and clearly don't feel optimistic about their chances in finding an upgrade (this year). And on top of that, they invested a lot of money in older players who they should be working to replace. It's been a frustrating scene in New Orleans for a few years now and a change at head coach doesn't seem to have made a difference.
But it's only April. We'll judge results in September, October, and all the way up through January. If the Saints have built a better team than last year and get to the playoffs? This criticism will seem unwarranted. At the same time, they've gone 9-8, 7-10, 9-8, and 5-12 in the four years since Drew Brees retired and stopped covering up so many weaknesses. They ...