3 Saints players who won’t be back for 2023 season
By Josh Wilson
The New Orleans Saints are surely entering a rebuild. As a result of the impending changes, these three players are likely done in New Orleans.
The New Orleans Saints are poorly equipped for a rebuild, yet they are squarely staring down that barrel. At least, fans should hope the front office is.
With a record of 5-9 they are somehow just a game out from tying the Bucs for the best record in the NFC South, yet being so bad in the worst division in the NFL has only hidden the fact that the Saints are not a good football team and need to tear it down to the studs and start over.
Any thought that there is hope to be had and a way forward with the team as currently constructed is an illusion.
Before the season, this team convinced us that they were a Super Bowl candidate. Sure, injuries have played a part in that not coming to fruition, but this team is far away from where we thought it would be. They’re 20th in points scored per game and 16th in points allowed. There is a complete lack of identity and the coaching leaves so much to be desired in year one without Sean Payton.
The Saints don’t have a first-round draft pick in 2023. As such, fans should prepare for the team to rid themselves of fan-favorite players to improve the future prospects of the team. So, some of the players on this list may be painful.
Saints who won’t be back next year: Marcus Davenport
Marcus Davenport is going to have to move on after this year. The defensive end is in the final year of the four-year contract he signed with the Saints, but injuries have held him back and have plenty thinking the team was right to not agree on an extension.
Davenport logged 9.0 sacks and 16 QB hits last season but has logged just half a sack this year and eight QB hits, despite already appearing in more games this year than last. He has a measly two tackles for loss in the entire year. Not exactly the kind of contract year you’d hope to see from a former first-round draft pick.
Some team will pay Davenport on the hope that he’ll get healthy and produce somewhere near his 2021 season, but it shouldn’t be the Saints.