The New Orleans Saints are entering a crucial season for their franchise. Longtime head coach Sean Payton is retired, marking the official transition into a new era of New Orleans football. This team has a ton of talent, and there are playoff spots in the NFC that are ripe for the taking. However, if rookie head coach Dennis Allen hopes to have any measure of success, he'll need contributions from the whole roster. The stars of the team will obviously produce, but some of the lesser players will have to step up. There are plenty of guys on this New Orleans roster who look ripe for a breakout year, but none more so than tight end Adam Trautman, making him the Saints' X-Factor for the 2022 NFL season.
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Saints X-Factor To Emerge In 2022 NFL Season
Adam Trautman
Many expected Trautman's breakout year to come in 2021, but injuries and the state of the Saints' offense prevented that. Now, Trautman will enter the 2022 NFL season with the starting tight end job and a totally clean bill of health. That alone will be enough to boost his production to career highs, as the Dayton product is yet to put up notable numbers in the NFL.
A lack of legitimate receiving options on the Saints should help Trautman turn his statistical production around. The wide receiver corps is currently set to be Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, and Chris Olave. Thomas hasn't played a full season of football since 2019 and was ineffective during his playing time in 2020. Landry had his moments with the Cleveland Browns, but he's just not what he used to be anymore. Olave is a highly-touted first-round selection, but it's notoriously difficult to adjust to the NFL as a rookie wide receiver. It wouldn't surprise anyone to see him struggle throughout his first campaign. There's a huge opportunity for snaps in this offense, and Trautman should take advantage of that to boost his stats up.
While some may be concerned about Trautman's job security, there's really no reason to worry. Taysom Hill is listed as a tight end, but he's more of a gadget player. It's unlikely that Hill's snaps impact Trautman in any way. The next guy up is Nick Vannett, a reliable veteran who won't wow anyone with his play. This Saints team will likely focus on youth and developing their recent draft classes, so it's hard to see Vannett getting on the field in any capacity except a reserve role. Last is Juwan Johnson, a converted wide receiver who really just isn't a threat.
The Saints should be a far more efficient passing attack in 2022 than they were in 2021. Starting quarterback Jameis Winston was injured early in the season, and the Saints failed to find a capable replacement. The Taysom Hill quarterbacking experiment was a resounding failure, and Trevor Siemian didn't provide any better play.
Luckily, Winston will be back fully healthy for this campaign. Even if he does get hurt again, New Orleans has a far better plan in place for backing him up. Andy Dalton was brought in in the offseason, ensuring that the Saints won't go through the same problems they did last year. All of those factors should help Trautman produce, as capable quarterback play is obviously key to any pass-catchers success. Overall, things are lining up for Trautman to finally have a big breakout season.
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