2007 NFC South Preview: New Orleans Saints

Walter Anaruk - 2007-07-27 10:35:52

All of their draft picks are signed and the Saints are entering the 2008 season bearing the weight of what could be the team’s highest expectations ever. After falling one game short of the Super Bowl, New Orleans fans are hungry. This is something they’ve never had. Now that they’ve sniffed it, they want it bad.

The Saints are rising as a dominant offensive power regardless of conference. They have a deadly ground game, a deadly passing attack, and one of the games most exciting young offensive minds at head coach.

Defensively, the Saints were loads better than expected last season. Sometimes they struggled with consistency and needed the offense outscore opponents. But the Saints defense is coming along nicely under defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs.

At this point, I am already willing to crown the Saints as the NFC South Champs. Last year’s sizzling offense got even more talented this offseason. The defense continues to improve. But the reason why I am so confident is not only are the Saints even better than last year, their NFC South counterparts are too full of question marks where the Saints have answers.

Quarterbacks: Drew Brees was absolutely stunning in Sean Peyton’s offense last year. Brees and his head coach are very similar. They have exceptionally analytical minds and quickly got on the same page offensively when Brees arrived from San Diego. Many doubted Brees would come back so absolutely from rotator cuff and labrum surgery in his throwing arm. But Brees proved them all wrong by throwing for more yards than anyone in the NFL last season. Brees is a leader on and off the field and the Saints have an exceptional starting quarterback for years to come.
Fantasy Impact: Brees is almost as sure of a fantasy stud as Peyton Manning. He is exceptionally accurate and gets plenty of opportunity. He threw and amazing 554 attempts last season with only 11 interceptions. I never recommend taking a quarterback in the first round but Brees should be taken in the same slot where you might take Manning or Carson Palmer. I place them in the low second to high third round in most standard scoring systems.

Running Backs: No one has had a running back tandem as talented and unselfish as Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister. Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen were as talented with the Raiders but they were jealous of each other’s carries. The Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson trio in Denver was as unselfish but as a group were not as talented.

Bush and McAllister are exceptional. Both can run between the tackles and have the speed to turn the corner. Bush has homerun speed and quickness and McAllister has monster pop and drive in the middle. Sean Peyton quickly figured out how to keep both on the field and happy.

Aaron Stecker is the third running back. Stecker is more of a true tailback than the versatile Bush. While he is not bruiser, he runs hard and has good quickness. Stecker is a career kick returner as well.

Fourth round pick Antonio Pittman could see some third down opportunities to keep defenses guessing. But this is easily Bush and McAllisters backfield.
Fantast Impact: When choosing between McAllister or Bush there is little to worry about. Both will get a ton of touches but McAllister will get more touchdowns because of his bruising work at the goal line. If points per reception are rewarded, Bush is more intriguing. Either way they are both stellar second backs for your roster who will go in the second round. One of them may fall to the third if you’re lucky or in a small league.

Wide Receivers: Marques Colston came out of seventh round obscurity to replace long time star receiver Joe Horn as the Saints primary receiver. Colston and Brees have developed an excellent chemistry. Colston is not a burner but he does have a nice burst. He can lull quicker corners into disrespecting his speed and then run by them. He also has superb body control and uses his size to shield off defenders like a veteran.

Devery Henderson emerged as the deep threat last season. With blistering speed, Henderson averaged an eye-popping 23 yards per reception average last year. He is favored over Terrance Copper as the second receiver.

Draft pick Robert Meachem is big, fast, and has soft hands. He enters the season with multiple injury concerns and showed up to OTAs out of shape. If Meachem can get his act together, he’ll provide some serious competition for Copper as the third receiver. Fortunately, his conditioning was largely a result of a previous injury limiting his training as opposed to a poor work ethic. Meachem looks like a hard worker and should be a positive addition to the deep receiving corps in New Orleans.
Fantasy Impact: Colston and Henderson will both get a lot of looks from Brees who is good at spreading the ball around. Look for Colston in the red zone and for Henderson to fight with Bush for home run shots between the forty yard lines. They both make excellent second receivers with Colston pushing for first receiver status on your roster.

Tight Ends: Eric Johnson was an excellent signing. Left in the shadow of Vernon Davis in San Francisco, Johnson found his way to a team in need of a reliable receiving threat at tight end. Johnson is excellent when healthy. While not blazingly fast, he’s quick and runs good routes. He has soft hands and could be a threat. Johnson’s problem is that he struggles to stay healthy. He gets dinged up enough to hold him out of games or limit his role.
Fantasy Impact: Johnson could jump from a good second option to an elite TE if he can stay healthy. Peyton runs a TE friendly offense but has lacked a TE who could fill the role. Johnson has the talent but he has never been able to stay on the field. He should be drafted in the middle to late rounds. If his health stays good, he could be a steal, but don’t hold your breath.

Offensive Line: Jamaal Brown made a much better transition to left tackle than I predicted. He proved me and many other media skeptics wrong by having an outstanding season that earned him a trip to the Pro Bowl. Jeff Faine is a leader at center both in attitude and toughness. He is smart and makes few mistakes. The entire line plays well and balanced. While some excel at pass blocking more than run and vice versa, they all do both well. The unit is deep and cohesive.

Defensive Line: Charles Grant and Will Smith are one of the leagues best defensive end tandems. Hollis Thomas is a disruptive presence at tackle and a very good run stuffer. When Hollis missed games last season the Saints run defense noticeably suffered. While this speaks volumes to Hollis’ play, it also shows a lack of depth at the tackle position.

Linebackers: Strong side linebacker Scott Fujita is an excellent athelete. He plays smart and aggressive and is almost never caught out of position. Fujita is unquestionably a defensive leader.

Middle linebacker Brian Simmons was brought in to replace Mark Simoneau. Simmons is bigger and stronger against the run than Simoneau. He is also solid in coverage.

Weakside linebacker Scott Shanle is a good pressure player when blitzing. He is also solid against the run. But he struggles when forced into coverage.

Secondary: The secondary will see a bit of a shake this year. Veteran Fred Thomas will be replaced by free agent acquisition Jason David. Fresh off of winning a Super Bowl ring as a starting corner for the Colts, David will have to prove that he is not a system player. He’ll need to show that his success is more than a product of the Tampa-2 scheme.

Young safeties Josh Bullocks and Roman Harper look set to start. But the acquisition of Kevin Kaesviharn from the Bengals could cloud the water for Bullocks at free safety. Bullocks is not as athletic as Kaesviharn. He also is developing a reputation for missing assignments.

Strong safety Roman Harper is tough against the run and is a good blitzer. However, Harper is coming off of ACL surgery that prematurely ended his rookie campaign last season. It remains to be seen how complete his recovery is. The Saints have veterans Jay Bellamy and Steve Gleason behind Harper but would like to stay young with Harper.

The Saints are clearly in the driver’s seat of the NFC South. Their offense is actually expected to improve this year which is causing many defensive coordinators to lose sleep. Their defense made huge strides last season but needs to make the same sized improvement this year.

There just isn’t much not to like about the Saints in 2007. That gives New Orleans something to be excited about.

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