New Orleans Saints
Big-Easy Hire
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The coaching carousel following the 2024 NFL season has finally quit spinning. The last head coaching vacancy was officially filled as my hometown New Orleans Saints get their man.
Kellen Moore, fresh off a Super Bowl win as the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator, is stepping into a new role as head coach of the New Orleans Saints. \
The team announced the big move Tuesday, just two days after Moore helped the Eagles take down the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX. Quarterback Jalen Hurts walked away with the game’s MVP honors, and it didn’t take long for Moore to be at the center of coaching headlines.
Saints’ owner Gayle Benson said hiring Moore was all about finding the right person to bring back the winning culture the franchise and its fans expect. “It became clear that Kellen is the guy to do that,” she said. Benson also gave props to Darren Rizzi for stepping up as interim coach after Dennis Allen was fired midseason.
Moore, 36, decided to chase the head coaching opportunity after just one season in Philadelphia, where the offense was a force to be reckoned with. The Eagles averaged 27.2 points per game during the regular season and cranked that up to 36.3 in the playoffs, tops in the league. Even Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni tried to convince Moore to stay, joking after the Super Bowl win, “Let’s run this back, Kellen.”
But Moore was ready for a fresh challenge, and he’s got one in New Orleans. One of his biggest tasks will be fixing the Saints’ defense, which gave up 379.9 yards per game last season—one of the worst marks in the league.
Word is Moore might bring in former Chargers head coach Brandon Staley, who was recently an assistant with the 49ers, as his defensive coordinator. The two worked together when Moore was the Chargers’ offensive coordinator in 2023.
The Saints were the last NFL team to lock down a new head coach, as league rules kept them from finalizing Moore’s hire until after the Super Bowl.
They were patient, though, even flying to Philly for an interview with Moore after the NFC Championship Game.
Other candidates included New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, and Rizzi, who had filled in as interim coach.
Moore marks a shift from the Saints’ recent approach. He’s the first head coach hired from outside the organization since Sean Payton left after the 2021 season.
Unlike his predecessor Dennis Allen, who was a defensive-minded coach with more experience, Moore brings a younger, offensive-focused vibe that’s a bit reminiscent of when Payton first joined the team.
Moore’s path to coaching started after he retired as a player in 2017.
A standout quarterback at Boise State, he played in the NFL with the Lions and Cowboys before making the jump to coaching.
He was the Cowboys’ quarterbacks coach in 2017 and later their offensive coordinator from 2019 to 2022. After a year with the Chargers, he moved on to the Eagles this past season.
Known for his offensive creativity, Moore’s play-calling has kept his teams competitive since 2019.
His offenses rank fifth in the NFL in points per game (26.4) and yards per game (376.5), with quarterbacks posting a 62.1 Total QBR, also fifth in the league during that span.
Saints fans are hoping Moore can bring that same firepower to New Orleans and get the team back on track. With his offensive know-how and a fresh perspective, there’s plenty of reason for excitement as he takes the reins.
Who Dat?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Although the New Orleans Saints haven’t finished worse than a tie for second in the NFC South since 2016, the last 3 years haven’t been to the standards of the “fleur-de-lis”.
With a pair of 9-8 finishes in 2021 and 2023 sandwiched between a 7-10 debut season for Head Coach Dennis Allen in 2022, Saints fans have been looking to find the answer to get back to the offense they’re accustomed to with a run of four consecutive division championships from 2014-2020.
After a 2022 season where quarterback play left much to be desired, Saints fans were hopeful last season with the signing of veteran quarterback Derek Carr, but it did not pan out like the savior of the offense that Saints fans had hoped for.
Carr turned in a season with 3,878 passing yards, which turned out to be the fourth lowest in his eleven-year career (ten previous with the Raiders), and the lowest total in a season where he played more than 15 games (17 in 2023).
Although the yards were a low point in the career totals for Carr, he did throw 25 TDs, which were the most Carr had thrown since 2020 with the Las Vegas Raiders.
The biggest question mark I think leading into 2024 for New Orleans is can Carr be “the guy” for the Saints, or do the reigns get handed off to the next in line.
Entering 2024, one of the biggest question marks is going to be “what does the offense look like this year?” Everyone across the league knows and has heard thru minicamp and OTAs that it will be different under first year Offensive Coordinator Klink Kubiak.
Kubiak takes over his 4th ream in the past four years after serving as the OC for the Vikings in 2021, Pass Game Coordinator & QBs coach in 2022 for the Denver Broncos, and with San Francisco in 2023 as Pass Game Coordinator under Kyle Shannahan, but early indications from pre-season work between Kubiak and Carr seems to be positive coming out of the Saints practice facility.
One eye-brow raiser from Saints early pre-season work has been the selected workload of a few different players because of contract negotiations. Most notably, Alvin Kamara has attended most walkthrough portions of practice, but when full practice that is open to media comes around, Kamara heads inside.
Kamara’s deal expires after the 2025 season, but the way the deal is structured, none of the 2025 money is guaranteed. All indications say that Kamara intends on continuing with the Saints and would like to get a new deal done before kickoff of the 2024 season to extend the current deal.
One thing that raises concerns of the Saints is a couple of key injuries on the offensive side that are expected to be key targets for Derek Carr.
Tight End Juwan Johnson looked to be a big part of the success of the Saints in training camp last year, but it didn’t pan out how anyone in the black and gold had hoped, with just 368 yards on 37 catches for the year.
While Kubiak had hoped to get Johnson more involved in the offense, at least for the first part of the season, Johnson will be rehabbing from a foot surgery. While the timetable for the Johnson return is unclear, the tight end for New Orleans to start will be some combination of their Swiss-Army knife Taysom Hill and former LSU Tiger Foster Moreau.
The other key injury is also unclear, but standout playmaking receiver Chris Olave suffered a shoulder injury in his off-season weight room work that has kept him in a non-contact jersey in pre-season work.
Early indications don’t seem to have Olave missing much if any time, but how much does it affect what he’s able to do?
At the end of the day, this Saints team is a HUGE swing team depending on how the offense clicks (or doesn’t), especially in an NFC South that has struggled as a whole the past few seasons.
Realistically I could see the Saints winning the South with as many as 11 or 12 wins, but I could also see this team struggling in year one under a new offensive coordinator while 5th Round pick Spencer Rattler matures into hopefully the QB of the Saints future.
