What did you learn about the New Orleans Saints this year? That’s the question we’re looking to answer in our takeaways from the 2023 season, with each of our staff writers sharing notes and observations after reviewing the campaign.
It wasn’t a successful season. The Saints missed the playoffs for the third year in a row after catching so many breaks. But the show must go on, and the team is already preparing for 2024. One last look back might be helpful in identifying what comes next. Here are our thoughts:
1
The Saints figured it out offensively too late. In 2023, New Orleans’ offense greatest success came with the deep ball. It was explosive to start the year, but it became clear the team couldn’t march the ball down the field for touchdowns consistently without scoring from long distance. After installing an extra day of red zone practice during the week and incorporating Jimmy Graham (whose 89 career touchdown catches are tied for 42nd-most in NFL history), their woes inside the 20-yard line faded. The season could have gone differently if they improved that earlier. — Darrion Gray
2
The defense isn’t as shut-down as it used to be. The unit is still strong and they showed that this year. It is difficult to wonder how much of that was a product of who they were facing. The Saints defense repeatedly had lackluster starts before turning it on in the second half. Then, they faced a quality offense in the Los Angeles Rams and the bleeding never stopped. The defense is good but not elite. They can’t be relied on to cover up for offensive deficiencies because the defense has glaring vulnerabilities of their own. — Darrion Gray
3
Dennis Allen finally may actually be on the hot seat: While I personally have believed he should be on the hot seat since the end of the 2022 season, there was never a point where it looked like ownership and the front office had been fed up with him. Now, with their third straight mediocre season (and back-to-back years under Allen), things have begun to change. Nearly the whole offensive staff is being revamped, including the offensive coordinator position. I think that if we were to see another mediocre season with a new offensive coordinator this year, Allen may be the next man out. At the end of the season we saw the little bits of sparks flying with the end-of-game touchdown that went against his wishes, who knows how much further that could go if the team begins to have issues with him. — Jeremy Trottier
4
The issues with the team are deeper rooted than just lack of offensive production: Last year, we saw some pretty horrible offense and the issues were heavily blamed on Pete Carmichael, rightfully so. However, this season we saw many more defensive stall-outs than before, as Darrion mentioned. With a defensive-oriented head coach in Allen and new defensive coordinator in Joe Woods, this should never be the case, yet it was. While the defense was by no means bad, it took a step back from last year (allowing 200-plus more yards and continuing to play soft against the run), which could spell trouble for the Saints in the long term pending an exceptional offseason. — Jeremy Trottier
5
The team needs to go back to the drawing board at defensive end. Watching the team get beat around the edges in the run game due to a lack of speed regularly this season was alarming. They’ve stuck to their guidelines at defensive end for years now and none of the draft picks have worked out besides Trey Hendrickson (no longer on the team) and Cameron Jordan (nearing retirement). The team ranked near the middle or bottom half of the league in all win rate percentages and finished 31st in pass rush win rate. It’s not working in the run or the pass rush anymore. The Saints could do well with adapting to the times of new-age faster pass rushers and not just the big guys that they have targeted recently. — Dylan Sanders
6
Derek Carr is good enough to win in the NFC, but the structure has to be right. Carr was not outstanding this year, but I think that the team showed enough at spots this season to give hope if they find a coach that can utilize the players correctly. The competition in the NFC at quarterback is nowhere near as tough as in the AFC. There are plenty of just-okay quarterbacks that are in good fit systems that hide their deficiencies. If the team gets the offensive coordinator hire right, Carr will be good enough to get the job done. — Dylan Sanders
7
Big changes are needed to get the Saints run game back on track; New Orleans fielded one of the least-explosive rushing attacks in the league in 2023, with 10 of their 14 runs of 15-plus yards coming from Alvin Kamara (6) and Taysom Hill (4). Some of those changes can be schematic. Simply running more often out of pass sets can make things less predictable and create more favorable situations against lighter boxes. But the Saints need to get younger and more athletic, too. They can’t bet everything on Kendre Miller staying healthy for 17 games in 2024 or hope for Kamara to shake off several years of decline. — John Sigler
8
Dennis Allen knows what he’s doing when coaching defensive backs (outside the weird Alontae Taylor slot experiment that never got off the ground). The Saints were without Marshon Lattimore for their last seven games and only two 300-yard passers, largely thanks to a secondary that beat expectations. Allen and his staff got quality reps out of journeymen like Isaac Yiadom, Lonnie Johnson Jr., Ugo Amadi, and Johnathan Abram. The secondary is the strength of the team, and they met expectations. Shout out to Paulson Adebo for rounding back to form after injuries slowed him down in 2022. The Saints are going to be leaning hard on him in 2024. — John Sigler
