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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...

The Saints' star quarterback is returning for his 20th season, and the team can afford him because they've had so many hits in the draft in recent years. Plus, mailbag questions on teams that could trade back, where Chase Young might land and a few prospects Albert Breer can't take his eyes off.

By Albert Breer | Sports Illustrated

A lot to get to in this week’s mailbag—on the cap situations of a number of teams, who goes where at the top of the draft and, of course, the fate of Tom Brady—but we have to start with Tuesday’s news that Drew Brees is coming back for a 20th NFL season, and why the Saints have to be breathing a pretty healthy sigh of relief. And that’s even though they may have seen this one coming from a mile away.

This’ll sound strange, but you can boil it all down to Vonn Bell and David Onyemata.

You’ll have to follow me here. Over the last four years, the Saints have caught fire in the draft. They’ve hit on first-rounders (Sheldon Rankins, Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramczyk, Marcus Davenport), they’ve found studs later in the draft (Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, Marcus Williams, Erik McCoy), and found plenty of valuable role players too (Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Tre’Quan Smith, Trey...

By Bob Rose | SI

The linebackers of the New Orleans Saints were a prohibitive weakness during the team’s defensive struggles from 2014 to 16. Too often, we were witness to them surrendering a big play in a crucial moment by being caught out of position or not being able to keep up with an opposing running back or tight end. Over the past few seasons, the Saints have rebuilt the unit through smart free agent signings and a key draft pick along with superior coaching from Mike Nolan. Nolan departed at the conclusion of the year for a defensive coordinator position with the Dallas Cowboys. While filling Nolan’s spot is key to continued success, the Saints are also faced with some important personnel decisions at the position.

LINEBACKERS

Free Agents: Stephone Anthony, A.J. Klein, Josh Martin, Manti Te’o

Under Contract: Kiko Alonso, Alex Anzalone, Demario Davis, Kaden Elliss, Chase Hansen, Craig Robertson

Full Story - SI