Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Kellen Moore
Offensive Coordinator: Doug Nussmeier
Defensive Coordinator: Brandon Staley
Special Teams Coordinator: Phil Galiano
2025 Summary (W-L Record: 6-11)
The Saints started last season 1-8 and seemed like they were on the fast track to a top draft pick. Then they went 5-3 over their final 8 games and positioned themselves to be a legitimate contender for the NFC South division title in 2026.
The easy explanation for the turnaround would be the play of rookie QB Tyler Shough, who took over the starting role for the final 9 games of the season and led the Saints to a 5-4 record during that stretch.
He did play really well (more on that below). But the defense also turned things around in the back half of the year. They went from allowing 27 points and 333 yards per game through their 1-8 start to allowing just 17.5 points and 262 yards per game.
A big reason for that was the pass rush, led by ageless wonder Cam Jordan and former #2 overall pick Chase Young. Jordan had his best season in 4 years, including 8 sacks over those final 8 games. Young had a career year with 10 sacks, including 7 over the final 8 games.
Getting two edge rushers to average nearly a sack a game for half the season will do wonders for any defense. And both will be back in 2026 for year 2 in defensive coordinator Brandon Staley’s system.
Key Additions
RB Travis Etienne
WR Jordyn Tyson (1st Rd, 8th Overall)
WR Bryce Lance (4th Rd, 136th Overall)
TE Noah Fant
TE Oscar Delp (3rd Rd, 73rd Overall)
LG David Edwards
OG Jeremiah Wright (4th Rd, 132nd Overall)
DL Christen Miller (2nd Rd, 42nd Overall)
EDGE Anfernee Jennings
EDGE Tyree Wilson
LB Kaden Elliss
CB Martin Emerson
S Lorenzo Styles (5th Rd, 172nd Overall)
Key Losses
TE/FB Taysom Hill
WR Dante Pettis
TE Foster Moreau
TE Jack Stoll
C Luke Fortner
DL Jonathan Bullard
DL Jonah Williams
LB Demario Davis
CB Alontae Taylor
Biggest Questions Entering 2026
Is Tyler Shough the real deal?
As I wrote earlier this summer, you can make a very strong argument that Tyler Shough had a better rookie season than any of the class of 2025 quarterbacks. He was certainly the most seasoned from the pocket:
Tyler Shough: The Best of the 2025 Rookie QBs?
You can make a very strong argument that Tyler Shough had a better rookie season than any of the class of 2025 quarterbacks. That was particularly true over his final 5 games.
Shough has just about every trait you’d want in a quarterback. He’s 6’5”, has a strong arm, and can move well for his size:
There are still some issues with his game that need refinement. For instance, while he isn’t wildly inaccurate, his ball placement could use some improvement. He’s also a little over-reactive to pressure at times.
But the bottom line is that Kellen Moore has a lot to work with when it comes to Shough. And when he entered the lineup last season, the Saints offense got better.
Shough was 5-4 as the starter, but he started to really pick up the pace over his final 5 games. During that stretch, he completed nearly 70% of his passes for 8.1 yards per attempt (both of which are really good). He had a 5-2 TD-INT ratio, a 99.1 passer rating, and ran for 135 yards and 3 touchdowns over that span. The Saints went 4-1 to finish the season.
Overall, New Orleans should be excited about what they saw from Shough.
Do the Saints have enough on offense around Shough to take the next step?
I think the answer is yes? But we’ll see.
Last year, the Saints had a bottom-5 run game, and their leading rusher (Alvin Kamara) had just 471 yards, 1 TD, and averaged a mere 3.6 yards per carry in 11 games.
New Orleans addressed their rushing attack by signing Travis Etienne this offseason. Etienne rushed for 1,107 yards last year in Jacksonville and has eclipsed 1,000 yards on the ground in 3 of the last 4 seasons. The combination of Etienne with Kamara is a clear upgrade over just leaning on Kamara as the feature back at this point in his career.
At receiver, the Saints added a dynamic weapon in Jordyn Tyson with the 8th overall pick. Many believed he might have been the best receiver in this year’s draft. The risk with him is that he has a concerning injury history.
And you can say the same thing about the receiver he’ll be paired with in New Orleans in Chris Olave. That 1-2 punch has the ceiling of being one of the best in the league. Durability is such a huge part of the equation though.
And that’s why I said I “think” the answer is yes. On paper it’s a definitive yes, but the injury history of the weapons around Shough still make this a huge mystery.
Are we witnessing a Brandon Staley resurgence?
Staley has had a wild career so far. He was everyone’s darling as the next young “it” defensive coach in 2020 after leading the Rams to the top-ranked defense in points and yards allowed.
That quickly got him hired as the Chargers Head Coach from 2021 to most of 2023. Unfortunately for Staley, despite his “defensive guru” status, his defenses ranked 29th, 21st, and 24th in points.
He was fired after a 2023 Week 15 game where his defense allowed 42 first-half points to Aidan O’Connell and the Raiders on their way to a 63-21 loss.
That turned Staley into a bit of a punch line, and he had to wait things out as an assistant coach on the 49ers’ staff a year later before taking the Saints DC role in 2025.
And last year, things started off about as ugly as they finished with the Chargers. The Saints ranked 24th in points allowed through their first 9 games as they started the season 1-8.
But as mentioned above, they turned things around and allowed just 17.5 points per game over their final 8 games. Pressure seemed to be a big part of the equation with Cam Jordan and Chase Young leading the way.
Schematically, Staley went away from what he had done traditionally. In the past, he leaned on more split-safety looks, but last year, the Saints played the second-highest rate of single-high coverage according to Cody Alexander of MatchQuarters. We’ll see if that trend continues in 2026.
The bottom line, though, is that the Saints finished with the 4th-best passing defense, the 6th best defense in terms of yards per play, and the 3rd-ranked defense on third down.
No one is talking much about the Saints defense entering 2026. But it seemed like the biggest reason they had success is that the players got used to playing and executing in Staley’s system over time. The hope in New Orleans is that year 2 could provide even more improvement.
2026 Outlook
Based on the way the Saints seemed to figure things out on both sides of the ball in the second half of last season, and based on the NFC South being wide open, this team has a real shot of taking the division for the first time since 2020.