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By Bob Rose | SI

The New Orleans Saints entered the 2019 season with a roster considered among the deepest in the National Football League. That depth was tested with a series of injuries during the year, especially on the defensive side. The Saints persevered most of the season, as evidenced by their 13-3 record and status among the league’s Super Bowl favorites entering the playoffs. Those expectations ended with a 26-20 home playoff upset to the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings exploited the weaknesses on the Saints roster in that game, leading to several questions heading into the offseason.

New Orleans enters the 2020 off-season not only attempting to shore up their shortcomings but also maintain the strength of a roster that is still considered a title contender. The Saints will add talent through both the draft and free agency while also addressing several of their own free agents. They will also get a few players back into the fold that weren’t a factor during this past season because of injuries. Here is some of the returning talent that will affect the Saints' decisions this offseason.

Full Story - SI

By Mike Detillier / Sports Correspondent

What a week it was for football fans in Louisiana.

Last weekend the Tennessee Titans upset the Baltimore Ravens 28-12 to advance to the AFC Championship game.

The architect and general manager of the 2019 version of Titans is former Nicholls State graduate assistant turned linebacker coach for the Colonels Jon Robinson.

Robinson left the coaching ranks once he left the Colonels to get into college scouting and worked his way up to a general manager position and now his team is playing for a spot in the Super Bowl.

Former Nicholls and Northwestern State coach Jay Thomas is also involved in the Titans scouting department as a pregame scout and personnel evaluator.
Then last Sunday afternoon the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Houston Texans to advance to the AFC Championship game.

Three members of the Chiefs coaching staff -- defensive line coach/running game coordinator Brendan Daly, outside linebacker coach Britt Reid and strength and conditioning coach Travis Crittenden -- have been regulars coaching high school players at the Louisiana Line Camp at Nicholls in Thibodaux each summer for the past few seasons.

Full Story - houmatoday.com

By Cassandra Spiller | LWOS

The playoffs are still underway, but the New Orleans Saints vision has moved to next season. Following another disappointing end to the season, the Saints are left with trying to figure out what needs to be done to improve for 2020. One thing is for sure, they will need to load their roster with more weapons, but the team has found itself in a beautiful mess with their quarterbacks.

New Orleans Saints Vision Has Transitioned to 2020

This year, the Saints will no longer have a signed quarterback on their roster. Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, and Taysom Hill are free agents now. Brees has been the starting quarterback with the Saints since 2006. Bridgewater showed he can still manage as a starting quarterback during Drew’s hand injury. It will be interesting to see what the Saints do to remedy this issue...

By John Hendrix | SI

Another season ended in disappointment for the New Orleans Saints, and now they enter the offseason with a lot of questions to answer. Most tend to get wrapped up in the draft process, but before that comes free agency. No matter how you look at it, there are glaring issues that the team should and could address before getting to both points, and they'll have to also shift around some cap space to be players in March.

Here are a few areas the teams can afford to get better at and address in 2020.

Wide Receiver

The problems the Saints have had at the wide receiver position just didn't happen. It's been evident since the 2017 playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings. Outside of Michael Thomas, the production has just not been there. The team has tried, taking a chance on players like Cameron Meredith, but it hasn't panned out. Quite simply put, this is a group that doesn't scare anyone outside of Thomas. To put Thomas' 1,725 receiving yards in the regular season in perspective, five combined receivers (Ted Ginn Jr., Tre'Quan Smith, Deonte Harris, Austin Carr, and Krishawn Hogan) only managed 692 yards in 2019. Ginn Jr. was fourth on the team with 421 yards behind Alvin Kamara (533) and Jared Cook (705).

Full Story - SI

By John Sigler | Saints Wire

New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis was named a first-team All-Pro, and now he could add another honor to his trophy case. Davis was named one of five finalists for the NFL Players Association’s Alan Page Community Award for his efforts off the field, embracing the New Orleans community and working to enact positive change with his neighbors. The award’s winner will receive a $100,000 donation to a charity of their choosing.

Davis rose to prominence in the wake of a controversial NFL uniform violation fine. The league initially fined him for wearing a headband labeled “Man of God” during an early-season game, which he overturned in appeals. Davis then sold similar headbands in a fund-raiser for a Mississippi hospital, reporting more than $120,000 in donations. He also met with students and faculty at a New Orleans-area elementary school who had supported him during the appeals process.

Full Story - Saints Wire - USA Today

By John Sigler | Saints Wire

The New Orleans Saints hit on nearly all of their picks in the 2017 NFL Draft, adding Rookies of the Year on Offense (Alvin Kamara) and Defense (Marshon Lattimore) while finding a future first-team All-Pro right tackle at the end of the first round. Other selections like Marcus Williams and Trey Hendrickson have contributed often, and the other misses still carry their silver linings.

It could have gone very differently. Saints coach Sean Payton was infamously on the phone with Alabama linebacker prospect Reuben Foster, preparing to draft him, when the San Francisco 49ers made a surprising trade up with the division-rival Seattle Seahawks. A serious of off-field incidents later resulted in Foster being waived by the team that picked him.

The Saints were fortunate enough to pick Ryan Ramczyk instead, and he’s proven to be much more than a worthy successor to Zach Strief on the right side — he’s a star in his own right.

Full Story - Saints Wire - USA Today