SaintsReport.com - Home Page

The New Orleans Saints have always been a team focused on developed, and they certainly have been showing that with defensive end Marcus Davenport.

By Nathan Beighle | Who Dat Dish

Trading up in the 2018 NFL Draft to make sure they got their need, the New Orleans Saints gave up a haul to get Marcus Davenport. An absolute beast at Texas-San Antonio, Davenport was a top EDGE prospect coming into the draft.

However, the Saints really made him a priority, trading multiple picks to slide up in the draft to bring him to the Big Easy. Well, it didn’t seem to pay off immediately as Davenport’s first season in the league was underwhelming, to say the least. But, he made up for it in round 2.

In his second season in the league, the 6-foot-6 Davenport played and started in 13 games. Sadly, he missed the last three and their postseason matchup with Minnesota due to a season-ending foot injury.

That said, Davenport’s second season was good enough to have him nominated as New Orleans’ most improved player by Pro Football Focus. Here’s an excerpt of what PFF’s Ben Linsey said on Davenport.

Full Story - Who Dat Dish

The Saints have some decisions to make at quarterback

By Tyler Sullivan | CBS Sports

The New Orleans Saints found out this week that quarterback Drew Brees will return for the 2020 season after mulling retirement following the 2019 campaign. Now that the team knows he's all in for next year, they'll have to lock up Brees, who is technically set to be an unrestricted free agent later this offseason, to a new contract.

Of course, there's nothing to really worry about in that respect for the Saints as Brees has illustrated that it's New Orleans-or-bust when it comes to his desire to continue his NFL career. This isn't uncharted territory for the two sides either, as they've grown somewhat accustomed to the year-by-year status for No. 9.

"Every time that subject has come up -- and it's come up a number of times ... where they're working on a a contract and they always seem to get it done in an efficient manner," Saints head coach Sean Payton told WWL Radio on Wednesday regarding the pending negations between the club and Brees, via...

By Kade Kistner | Saints Wire

The Indianapolis Colts are up next on our league-wide deep dive into possible free agents the New Orleans Saints could pursue during the 2020 offseason. With only 20 free agents available for the Colts, there are only a few plausible fits for the Saints. Here are Indianapolis’ free agents:

• LT Anthony Castonzo
• WR Devin Funchess
• DE Jabaal Sheard
• TE Eric Ebron
• K Adam Vinatieri
• WR Chester Rogers
• FS Clayton Geathers
• WR Dontrelle Inman
• RT Le’Raven Clark
• FS Isaiah Johnson
• S Briean Boddy-Calhoun
• G Josh Andrews
• RB Jonathan Williams
• G Joe Haeg
• DT Trevon Coley (RFA)
• WR Marcus Johnson (ERFA)
• S Kai Nacua (ERFA)
• S Rolan Milligan (ERFA)
• WR Daurice Fountain (ERFA)
• K Chase McLaughlin (ERFA)

Full Story - Saints Wire - USA Today

By John Hendrix | SI

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton appeared on WWL Radio SportsTalk on Wednesday night with Kristian Garic and Bobby Hebert, discussing the Mardi Gras season, Drew Brees, Taysom Hill, and state of the team. He offered up some really good nuggets in regards to a future deal with his quarterback, and how the team would handle Hill as a restricted free agent. Quickly into the interview, Payton was asked about if there was any doubt of a Brees return for 2020.

"Honestly, there was some," Payton said. "We spoke a few times right after the season, prior to the Pro Bowl, and then after the Pro Bowl. I think it's a big decision, and I say that not speaking for Drew, but a lot goes into it. There's a lot of stress, stress on the family, a lot of sacrifices are made to gear up for what is almost half a year season."

Payton said that knowing Brees, he weighed the pros and cons of his decision. He'd periodically send him a text seeing how he's doing.

Full Story - SI

By John Sigler | Saints Wire

The New Orleans Saints are sprinting into the 2020 offseason plenty of hurdles ahead of them. Some of those are easier to leap than others; the club has an established template for how to handle their next contract extension with Drew Brees, while there are in-house promotions available should free agents like David Onyemata or Vonn Bell get snapped up on the open market. If Teddy Bridgewater doesn’t return to back up Brees, some free agent quarterbacks could draw attention, while Taysom Hill’s status as a restricted free agent could help the Saints recoup draft assets should he leave for a new team. The Saints can also make some spending room by releasing players whose salary cap hits don’t match their performance.

But what moves do the Saints need to make? They should consider adding a starting-quality left...

By John Sigler | Saints Wire

The New Orleans Saints are used to getting creative in their efforts to work around the NFL salary cap, often backloading contracts and relying on crafty salary cap structure to max out their resources every year. However, there’s a chance that one of their favorite tricks won’t be available in the 2020 offseason, unless the league and the NFL Players Association are able to settle on a new collective bargaining agreement.

As recently pointed out by ESPN’s Dan Graziano, “Article 13, Section 7 of the CBA mandates that ‘no player contract extending into a season beyond the Final League Year may provide for an annual increase in salary … of more than 30 percent of the salary provided for in the Final League Year, per year, either in the season after the Final League Year or in any subsequent season covered by the Player Contract.’”

In translation: teams are not allowed to sign players to contracts with a raise of more than 30% in 2020 during subsequent years, though this doesn’t include prorated signing bonuses. According to Over the Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald, this is designed to stop teams from taking an unfair advantage of a potentially uncapped season...