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.
Saints who won’t be back next year: Alvin Kamara
This one — and the next on this list — is tough because Alvin Kamara is a fan favorite and has been nothing but great to the Saints organization and fanbase. Even when it looked as though Kamara was subtly forcing his way out of New Orleans, he stood firm and indicated all he wanted was some accountability in the locker room; He had no interest in leaving.
We’ll never know if that was genuine for sure, but the trade deadline came and went without Kamara finding a new home. It seems as though his claims that he wanted to stay in New Orleans were real.
That said, this season has not featured Kamara as the lead back one would expect. The Saints have misused him entirely compared to how Sean Payton kept him fed. Short, easy screen passes over the middle to Kamara are few and far between these days.
After getting 22 touches per game last year, he’s averaging 18 this year. Kamara has one rushing touchdown and two receiving touchdowns this entire season. It is clear that having a defensive-minded coach in Dennis Allen running the ship has hurt the game of some guys, and Kamara is at the top of this list.
His love for New Orleans seems genuine, so he may not request a trade. But whether it’s that or the Saints capitalizing to secure a draft pick, it seems as though Kamara’s time in New Orleans is probably limited.
The issue with trading Kamara is his impending lawsuit. Teams may not be willing to make a trade for him when they know he could come with a suspension. Another perspective could suggest that if the Browns were willing to trade for Deshaun Watson, teams will trade for anyone if the talent is there regardless of possible suspensions.
Saints who won’t be back next year: Cameron Jordan
Yet another painful player to see on this list for Saints fans. If Kamara has been the heart and soul of the offense, Cameron Jordan has been that for the defense.
We’ve seen him tallying sacks and getting to new “levels” since 2011, all in New Orleans. He is without a doubt one of the strongest draft picks the Saints have made on the defensive side of the ball this century. Moving on here would be emotional, to say the least.
But the pieces are there for Jordan to work as excellent trade bait for teams closer to pushing for a Super Bowl. Consider that Jordan’s final year of his contract is in 2024, so there’s no long-term ball and chain with Jordan, a strong player, no doubt, but one that is coming up at the end of his career sooner rather than later.
Secondly, Jordan is talented and hungry to win a title. He and the Saints have gotten oh-so-close plenty of times over the last decade.
He fits nicely in the archetype of what Von Miller was for the Rams last season. The Rams acquired him in a trade and he contributed to their Super Bowl win. It was a win for the Rams, a win for Miller who hadn’t won a title yet, and a win for the Broncos as they got some assets out of the deal before he became a free agent and walked for nothing. Emotional for Denver, yes, but necessary to move onto the next stage. It would be similar for New Orleans.
If anyone deserves a Super Bowl on this Saints team, it’s Jordan. He’s been a Pro Bowler seven times, including the last five seasons straight. And if the Saints look to trade talented players to contenders to shore up their draft stockpile, Jordan is one of the most attractive pieces.
These kinds of trades tend to happen midseason, but the Saints might read the room and realize they need picks in the 2023 draft. If they’re wise, they’ll get ahead on moving some pieces that don’t align with the rebuild timeline.