New Orleans Saints 2025 Profile
Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Kellen Moore
Offensive Coordinator: Doug Nussmeier
Defensive Coordinator: Brandon Staley
Special Teams Coordinator: Phil Galiano
2024 Summary (W-L Record: 5-12)
The Saints scored 91 points in their first two games last season, leading to idiots like this saying that they looked like they could be a contender. They proceeded to lose their next 7 games, as well as their head coach, and the season spiraled out of control:
Injuries certainly played a critical role in the Saints’ demise last year. Derek Carr missed 7 games. No receiver played more than 35% of snaps as key players like Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed missed a combined 20 games.
Receive breakdowns like this directly in your inbox by subscribing here:
The Saints front office decided it was finally time for an overhaul and hired Kellen Moore away from the Super Bowl champion Eagles to be their head coach.
Moore spent 6 years as an offensive coordinator with the Cowboys, Chargers, and Eagles. Each had very different types of quarterbacks (Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, and Jalen Hurts). And Moore had some measure of success with all of them, which is likely one of the key reasons he was hired.
Moore also brought in Brandon Staley as his defensive coordinator, which is an interesting reversal of roles as he was Staley’s offensive coordinator with the Chargers.
Key Additions
QB Tyler Shough (2nd Rd, 40th Overall)
WR Brandin Cooks
LT Kelvin Banks (1st Rd, 9th Overall)
RG Dillon Radunz
DT Davon Dodchaux
DT Vernon Broughton (3rd Rd, 71st Overall)
LB Danny Stutsman (4th Rd, 112th Overall)
CB Isaac Yiadom
CB Quincy Riley (4th Rd, 131st Overall)
S Justin Reid
S Julian Blackmon
S Jonas Sanker (3rd Rd, 93rd Overall)
Key Losses
QB Derek Carr
FB Adam Prentice
WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
LG Lucas Patrick
C Shane Lemieux
EDGE Payton Turner
LB Willie Gay
CB Paulson Adebo
S Tyrann Mathieu
S Will Harris
Did They Address Their Holes?
A couple of months before Derek Carr retired, there were reports that a shoulder injury would force him to miss the season. So even before the NFL Draft, the Saints knew they needed a quarterback. They addressed that by taking Tyler Shough with the 40th overall pick.
Shough is a big man with a big arm who can make all the throws. He has some decent mobility for his size as well. Aside from his physical ability, he has some nuance to his game and looks every bit the part of a professional quarterback.
You can check out my full breakdown on Shough here:
2025 NFL Draft: Louisville QB Tyler Shough Breakdown
“A lot of people go to college for 7 years.” Tyler Shough is one of those people. Although he didn’t go for 7 years to become a doctor. Instead, it was to become an NFL quarterback. And with the 40th pick in the draft, the New Orleans Saints made sure all that hard work and those extra college courses paid off.
There were plenty of other holes that needed to be addressed on this side of the ball as well. The O-line ranked 25th in pressure percentage allowed last season. And with all the injuries at the wide receiver position, New Orleans needed another player who could come in, add depth, and be a reliable pass catcher.
To address the O-line, New Orleans used the 9th overall pick on left tackle Kelvin Banks out of Texas. Last year’s left tackle, Taliese Fuaga will move to right tackle (where he spent most of his time in college), and right tackle Trevor Penning will move inside to left guard. The reshuffling could be a disaster, or it could pay off with two players moving to positions that are a better fit and 3 positions getting upgraded overall.
To address the receiver position, the Saints brought in Brandin Cooks, who isn’t necessarily what he once was but is still as professional of a receiver as they come.
Biggest Questions Entering 2025
Who will be the quarterback?
Both Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough are talented throwers of the football. Rattler has 7 more games of NFL experience than Shough after filling in for Derek Carr for much of last season. But Shough isn’t your typical rookie QB considering he spent 7 years in college. He’ll be 26 in September, has plenty of playing experience, and that maturity comes through on film.
Not to mention, something tells me that losing Carr wouldn’t have been an issue (and the Saints wouldn’t have used a 2nd-round pick on Shough) if they had any faith in Rattler being the guy long term.
Advantage Shough.
One of the other big questions the Saints will have to answer is where their pass rush will come from. It was a subpar area of the team last year (19th in pressure percentage and 25th in sack percentage). And they really didn’t make any substantial moves this offseason.
Can 15-year veteran Cameron Jordan turn back time? Will Chase Young ever get back to the version of himself we saw during his rookie season 5 years ago? Is there anyone on the roster that can emerge and generate a consistent pass rush?
Someone will need to, because a 4-man pass rush is critical to defensive coordinator Brandon Staley’s defense.
The other concern I’ll throw in is that the Saints’ run defense last year was atrocious, ranking 31st overall in total yards and yards per attempt. They added defensive tackles Davon Godchaux and rookie Vernon Broughton to help inside. And they signed Justin Reid at safety who figures to provide good run support. But let’s be honest, Staley’s defenses don’t exactly have the best track record defending the run (except for that one year with the Rams where he had Aaron Donald).
And that brings us to the aforementioned safety position, which recently created another question about this team. After signing Reid this offseason to pair with Tyrann Mathieu, which figured to be a top-tier duo, Mathieu retired right before training camp.
Whatever plans Staley had at safety were thrown into disarray. New Orleans scrambled to replace Mathieu with Julian Blackmon. How will that impact what the Saints were planning to do defensively all offseason? We’ll need to wait and see. Mathieu’s experience on the field will be tough to replace, but Blackmon might add a little more explosiveness to the secondary.
2025 Outlook
The Saints are just a huge question mark as a whole. New head coach. New offensive system. New defensive coordinator. New quarterback. But they do have decent talent on both sides of the ball.
If they can stay healthy, and if they hit on the quarterback position (two big if’s), they’ll have a chance to compete for the division. The NFC South is winnable for all 4 teams in it.