The New Orleans Saints are in dire straits. Their season hasn’t met expectations, and there are a lot of people with dirty hands right now — both on the coaching staff and on the roster. Some of the team’s big free agent signings haven’t been as-advertised, but there are also young players who aren’t getting the most out of their opportunities (and in a few cases, that isn’t entirely their fault).
If the Saints are going to save their season, it’ll fall on key players stepping up to make a positive impact. Here are four individual who must be doing more down the stretch:
S Tyrann Mathieu
Mathieu has created a couple of bright spots this season — he’s responsible for the defense’s only interception and one of their few fumbles — but too often he’s been at fault on big gains through the air and on the ground. Whether it’s a lack of ability or willingness, Mathieu hasn’t made many tackles in the open field. In fact, he leads the team in missed tackles (5) per Pro Football Reference charting, whiffing on 12.8% of his attempts. That’s really troubling when PFR has him with just 8 missed tackles in each of the last two years.
He was signed to take over for Malcolm Jenkins as a leader in the secondary who can line up all over the field, but injuries have shifted Mathieu into more alignments deeper downfield, where his lack of long speed has been exposed. You have to hope the Saints can heal up in the secondary so that Mathieu can be put in more advantageous situations, but at the end of the day he’s got to execute his assignments. He’s been in this league too long to be caught watching opponents outrun him for long touchdowns.
WR Rashid Shaheed
So this entry is unique because we aren’t being critical of Shaheed — instead, that energy is being directed towards Pete Carmichael and the Saints coaching staff who haven’t gotten more out of such an exhilarating young player. Shaheed has appeared in two games and touched the ball twice, each time scoring a touchdown: first he traveled 44 yards on a jet sweep, then he caught a 53-yard deep shot. But he’s totaled just 19 snaps on offense through two games. What gives?
We’ve heard enough about the Saints missing players to injuries. Yes, it’s tough to keep the offense on schedule without Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry (and for a game without Chris Olave). But what about the players they do have? Shaheed spent a month toiling on the practice squad before the Saints signed him to their 53-man roster, but they’ve failed to keep getting the ball in his hands after seeing what he can do. It’s time to focus on the players who are healthy enough to see the field and get Shaheed involved beyond the first 15 scripted plays. Let’s see just how high his ceiling really is. Shaheed’s coaches need to give him more opportunities, and he needs to show he can handle it.
CB Paulson Adebo
Adebo is experiencing a sophomore slump of epic proportions. There’s some minor disagreements on exactly how many passing yards he’s allowed in coverage (Pro Football Reference has him charged with 350 yards, whereas Pro Football Focus says 334) but we shouldn’t lose sight of the forest for the trees, here. The bigger problem is that Adebo has only played in four games but is the only player even coming close to 300 yards allowed through the air, and he’s soared right past that milestone.
Hey may have broken up 3 passes but Adebo has also been dinged for multiple missed tackles (6 at PFF, 4 at PFR) while drawing 3 penalty flags. He’s been responsible for too many negative plays in multiple phases of the game. It’s unclear when Marshon Lattimore will be able to return from his abdomen injury or how long Bradley Roby will be out of action with an ankle, but the point is that Adebo won’t be leaving the starting lineup any time soon. The Saints have to keep playing him unless both of those other corners heal up soon — in which case Alontae Taylor is going to take Adebo’s job. But the injuries and absences in the Saints secondary mean Adebo will still see plenty of snaps even after being demoted.
RB Mark Ingram II
We’ve spent most of the last year asking if the Saints are deep enough at running back, and Ingram hasn’t quite done enough to dispel that concern. He’s had some nice moments, sure, but his longest run this season has traveled just 14 yards. You wouldn’t expect a 33-year old running back to have much left in the tank, but it’s looking grim for him. Ingram is averaging 1.5 yards after contact per carry (Alvin Kamara averages 1.9) and he’s only converted 11 first downs as a runner, fewer than Taysom Hill (16), who has logged 22 fewer carries on the season.
Then there’s the ball security problem. Ingram has fumbled twice in just 7 games, which is uncharacteristic of him. He’s never fumbled more than three times in a single season. It’s a really tough look for New Orleans when Ingram is turning the ball over with some frequency early on, and his backups like Latavius Murray and Tony Jones Jr. are getting signed by other teams. It begins to at least look like Ingram is getting opportunities because of what he’s done in the past rather than what he can offer the team now. And he’s the only one who can turn that narrative around. If the Saints stick with the Kamara-Ingram tandem the rest of the way, it won’t go very far if Ingram still isn’t pulling his weight.
