New Orleans Saints: 5 offseason needs
By John Buhler
The New Orleans Saints have several areas to address this offseason, mostly on defense. Here are the five biggest areas of need for the Saints this year.
The New Orleans Saints once again failed to reach the NFC Playoffs with quarterback Drew Brees in the latter part of his prime. Was the offense behind Brees brilliant? Yes, as it always is. However, the Saints need to do some serious work on defense to help him get back into the NFC Playoffs.
The Saints will have six draft picks this spring, but no fifth-rounder. New Orleans is finally out of salary cap purgatory in 2017. General manager Mickey Loomis will have roughly $28,706,482 to work with this offseason.
Fortunately for Loomis, the Saints’ needs are mostly of the secondary and tertiary variety. If he uses their financial resources effectively, New Orleans can push for playoff contention this upcoming season. Here are the five biggest areas the Saints need to address this offseason.
5. Complementary running back
The Saints have a versatile starting running back in former Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram. He is solid as a runner, but seems to have found his niche in the NFL as a great pass catcher out of the backfield.
However, he will need some help in getting the Saints ground game up and running this year. New Orleans is in dire need of a complementary tailback, as Travaris Cadet, Tim Hightower, and C.J. Spiller all hit unrestricted free agency.
Loomis could look to bring back Cadet, but he’s only the youngest of the trio at 28 years old. New Orleans could look to sign a running back like Isaiah Crowell coming off his rookie deal, but should be more pragmatic about it in the NFL Draft.
Given that the Saints have plenty of other more glaring needs than at No. 2 running back, expect Loomis and head coach Sean Payton to probably address it in the middle of the 2017 NFL Draft. They are also poised to land somebody else’s underutilized tailback and turn him into a backfield star in the Big East in free agency.