The New Orleans Saints have a pivotal offseason in front of them. Trying to build a contender around Derek Carr, the team couldn’t find the right pieces for years on end. With Carr’s season ending early with an injury, it led to a dreadful year for the team and a top-10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
So far, the perception was that New Orleans might run it back with Carr and add pieces, both in free agency and through the Draft, to ensure success next year. However, with the way things are unfolding, their direction may have drastically changed. Multiple teams with picks ahead of them have already added quarterbacks to the roster. As a result, they could have a chance at getting a top-tier prospect from the collegiate level to build for the future.
New Orleans Saints Finally Abandoning Drew Brees Model?
In the last few seasons of Drew Brees, the Saints made a conscious effort to borrow from the future in terms of their salaries to try to build a contender around him.
However, even after Brees’ retirement, the franchise tried to follow the same model, except around Carr. Now, the bill is due at some point, and one analyst believes now is the right time for New Orleans to take the plunge.
The latest mock draft from PFSN after the first slate of free agency moves were made official had the Saints selecting Shedeur Sanders out of Colorado with the ninth overall pick. Widely regarded as one of the two best quarterbacks available in the Draft, Sanders falling this low would certainly be a shock.
But David Bearman of PFSN has his reasons for believing in this pick. “With most teams playing the QB carousel at the beginning of free agency, Sanders fell to the bottom half of the top 10. I originally had Sanders going to the Jets, but New York took care of that by signing Fields.”
Not only has New York taken on Justin Fields, but the other quarterback-hungry team, the Las Vegas Raiders, also made their pick by trading for Geno Smith from the Seattle Seahawks. This pick will allow New Orleans to take care of their salary cap situation.
“Sanders becomes the QB-in-waiting for an oft-injured Derek Carr and can jump right in should Carr have another injury-filled season. The Saints are going to need a complete rebuild with aging players and no cap space. Starting at QB isn’t the worst idea, especially when Sanders falls to this spot in the draft.”
A four-year collegiate career saw Sanders take off once he came to the Colorado Buffaloes.
This past year, despite a disastrous offensive line, he still was good at completing an absurd 74% of his passes. Throughout the season, he tallied 4,134 yards and 37 passing touchdowns.
Additionally, with his scrambling ability on full display, he even added four rushing touchdowns to his total. After a true pocket passer like Carr, the adjustment to Sanders will be stark for the Saints.
However, behind a much better offensive line (23rd in the league last season on PFSN’s OL+ metric), Sanders could develop into their franchise quarterback for the future.
