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The New Orleans Saints could look a lot different during the 2025 NFL season. New Orleans hired head coach Kellen Moore earlier this offseason, ushering in a new era for the storied franchise. And that is far from the only change the Saints have endured this offseason.
Veteran Tyrann Mathieu shocked the Saints by announcing his retirement on Tuesday just before the start of training camp. New Orleans also lost QB Derek Carr to retirement earlier this offseason.
In short, there is plenty of change in the air in New Orleans.
Change could be a good thing for this team. The Saints have been either okay or good in every season since Drew Brees retired back in 2021.
Saints fans finally have some reason to hope for the future under Moore's leadership. But the roster is imperfect and the Saints may not be ready to compete during the 2025 NFL season.
But what is the fatal flaw for the Saints in 2025? And can the team solve that problem during training camp?
Below we will explore the Saints' biggest fatal flaw that the team must address during training camp.
The Saints don't have the cap space to field a contender in 2025
I know, everybody's heard about the Saint's salary cap issues.
New Orleans is notorious for playing it fast and loose with the salary cap. They routinely push money into future seasons and perform other maneuvers to get under the cap each offseason.
Theoretically, this could go on forever. But it shouldn't. Especially given the age and talent level of the roster.
New Orleans has a whopping $82.7 million in dead cap in 2025, with much of that money coming from Marshon Lattimore ($31.67 million), Derek Carr ($19.21 million), and Ryan Ramczyk ($11.08 million).
To their credit, they still have $22 million in cap space to play with. But they are also projected to be $24 million over the salary cap in 2026.
It is not literally impossible for the Saints to add more talent in 2025. But doing so would come at the cost of rolling over cap space into 2026, which would help balance their books.
In my opinion, the biggest mistake the Saints made this offseason was not pivoting hard into rebuild mode.
Why didn't the Saints go full rebuild mode in 2025?
There are likely a few reasons why the Saints did not blow up the roster this offseason. But Derek Carr is likely the biggest reason.
The timing of the Derek Carr retirement understandably left the Saints high and dry. He retired in May, after NFL free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft.
New Orleans is a different team with Carr under center. They seemingly did not know his retirement was coming, so it makes sense to do what you can to build the roster during his final few seasons.
Even so, some of the moves the Saints made did not set themselves up for success in 2025.
For example, they paid a lot of money for Chase Young despite his injury concerns. They also handed big-money contracts to Justin Reid and Juwan Johnson. Both are good players, but not at the price the Saints paid.
New Orleans eventually has to bite the bullet and get their salary cap in order. I don't understand why they didn't do that right away during Kellen Moore's first season.
Is there anything the Saints can do in training camp to rescue the 2025 season?
I realize that I'm asking a lot from the Saints organization. Especially after they were surprised by Carr's retirements weeks after the 2025 NFL Draft. So I am not suggesting they were wrong to make the moves they did make.
That said, now is the time for solutions. I believe there are a few important ideas that the Saints should cling to during training camp.
- Give their young players plenty of first-team reps in favor of veterans
- Prepare to give young players more snaps during the regular season
There are a few positions on the team where this can apply right away.
I would love to see more snaps for both Kendre Miller and rookie Devin Neal during the 2025 season. Yes Alvin Kamara still exists, and will still be in New Orleans for a few years, but the Saints need to start seriously testing their young players.
Similarly, I think it would be smart to rotate rookie linebacker Danny Stutsman onto the field, even if he doesn't win a starting job. At the very least, let him give Demario Davis some rest on non-critical downs.
There should also be a fierce training camp battle between Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler. Personally, I would even let both quarterbacks see the field during the regular season too. The Saints need to know what they have at the quarterback position before next offseason. Leave no stone unturned.
Finally, I'd recommend not giving up on third-year defensive lineman Bryan Bresee. He has not played well during his professional career, but he could thrive with new coaching and a new defensive scheme.
If New Orleans approaches training camp with a plan, they could learn a lot about which players should be a part of the organization's future past 2025.
