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By BtBoylan | SI

Saints DE Noah Spence tore his ACL in an offseaon workout session. New Orleans placed Spence on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list on Tuesday. Spence will not count towards the 90-man roster.


Noah Spence, 26, signed a one-year deal this summer to return to New Orleans in 2020. After spending the final three regular-season games of 2019 with the Saints, coaches expected Spence to compete as a rotational DE this offseason.

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By Michael Hanich | LWOS

After a huge personal accomplishment by Drew Brees this past NFL season, he could’ve taken the moment to retire. Brees took the off-season with some full consideration of whether to retire or return to the New Orleans Saints. On March 17th, Brees and the Saints agreed on a two-year deal worth $50 million. As a result, their reliable backup quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater signed a three-year deal with the Carolina Panthers. The Saints were able to resign flex quarterback Taysom Hill and sign former starting Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter Jameis Winston on one-year deals.

The 41-year old quarterback in Brees still has energy left in the tank. There is the potential of Brees sticking with the Saints after his two-year deal but either party might decide to move on. New Orleans will need to look for their next franchise quarterback after Brees. There are plenty of options that New Orleans can utilize to acquire a future franchise quarterback. Some options are currently on the roster of the Saints while others may have to use free agency or the NFL Draft.
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By Alexander Wolz | 12 Up

There are few true unknowns when it comes to the offense for the New Orleans Saints. Drew Brees is an all-time quarterback, Alvin Kamara is an incredible playmaker in the backfield and Michael Thomas is arguably the league's best receiver, not to mention the dual-threat of Taysom Hill. Defense, however, is more of an open scenario, but a new draftee may be a leading man this season despite not yet being any kind of household name.

New Orleans took an aggressive approach in the 2020 NFL Draft, trading up to draft key rookies, including Zack Baun, a Wisconsin linebacker who unexpectedly slipped. The Saints came in to steal him away, and their fans should be happy about the decision.

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By Bob Rose | SI

The New Orleans Saints were able to keep most of their talented core this offseason, even re-signing several of their own free agents. One player that they could not keep was SS Vonn Bell, who would ultimately sign with the Cincinnati Bengals. Bell was among the team leaders in tackles for each of his four years and improved his pass coverage in each season. New Orleans moved quickly to replace Bell’s talents, signing eleven-year veteran and former Saint S Malcolm Jenkins.

New Orleans is deep and talented at the safety position, but the unit has been partially responsible for giving up some big plays in crucial moments over the last three seasons. Other than the addition of Jenkins, the Saints had little activity at this position during the offseason but will also return two players from injury that missed last season.

In our final position preview of the Saints post-draft roster, we look over the last line of defense for the New Orleans defense.

SAFETY

• Malcolm Jenkins
• Marcus Williams
• Chauncey Gardner-Johnson
• D.J. Swearinger
• J.T. Gray
• Saquan Hampton
• Chris Johnson

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By Greg Layfield | LWOS

Last week, this article was published about the pure talent of the 2020 New Orleans Saints roster. The Emmanuel Sanders signing got all the publicity and for good reason. Sanders will fill the role of the second receiver opposite of Michael Thomas. For the success of the entire team, the roster greatly needs a number three receiver. With signing Ty Montgomery, they very well could have found the guy to fill the role. Ty Montgomery came into the league as a wide receiver. With the Green Bay Packers, he made the change to running back late in 2016 due to team-need. With his wide-ranged skill set, Montgomery can be a backup to Alvin Kamara and still contribute to the offense at receiver. Moving Montgomery back to the receiver position could be key to the Saints’ success in 2020.

New Orleans Saints Can Benefit Greatly by Moving Ty Montgomery Back to Wide Receiver

Career To...

Saints coach Sean Payton has been the NFL’s most prominent coronavirus patient.
He opens up about what it was like, how his plasma donation has made a difference
and what he likes about the Saints’ offseason plans. Plus, producer Gotham Chopra
talks all about Tom Brady's upcoming documentary—and why it’s not The Last Dance

By Albert Breer | Sports Illustrated

Sean Payton’s pretty recognizable on the Gulf Coast, so being stopped by someone isn’t the rarest occasion for a guy who’s been the Saints coach for a decade and a half. But there was a point in April, when all of us knew less about COVID-19 than we do now, where his recent history—having had COVID-19 in March—gave him a sort of encounter he’s not used to having.

He’d stopped at a gas station off the interstate in Mobile, Ala., and was in line at the Subway inside with his car sitting at the pump. A couple football fans were there too and, in a weird, only-in-2020 twist, they were being sure to keep their distance.

“And I could tell the customers in front of me, they saw that I was the head coach. But then I could also tell there was this elephant in the room,” Payton said, laughing at the memory of it. “And I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m clear. I’m clean, I’m probably the safest person in here. But I do appreciate the concern.’”

Payton was fine then, weeks removed from having contracted the virus, and he’s fine now, as he and his staff work through what’s been a very different spring...

By Matthew Paras | The Washington Times

Pass interference won’t be up for review next season. There’s a reason for that, a prominent league executive said.

In an interview with NBC Sports’ Peter King, Troy Vincent, the league’s vice president of football operations, said the NFL “failed miserably” in their implementation of reviewing pass interference plays last season.

“Those outcomes were not good for professional football,” Vincent said. “Because we didn’t do the proper due diligence, it played out publicly. The last thing people should be talking about is the way the game is officiated. They [officials] should be faceless objects, managing and facilitating game flow. We failed. I’m first in line. I shared that [with league officials]. I failed, as the leader of that department. I failed. We cannot allow that to happen again.

Full Story - Times