Here’s what I don’t get re Saints ranking predictions

Im going to be as non homer as I can on this. I still think Dennis Allen is public enemy #1 with this franchise, but I wont even factor it in going forward.....

I dont see how we are better or worse personnel wise. We lost Ram and Peat. We gained Fuaga and somehow, in ways ill never understand, Penning is a preseason all pro at RT around here. The same guy who was passed over for guys signed mid week last year.

We didnt improve at RB, TE or WR. But AT Perry is going to be the next Michael Thomas. Again, Michael Thomas, pre injuries, was elite. AT Perry had TWELVE catches last year. The 'buzz' about AT Perry should be tampered down a bit because we recently had an UDFA flash in year 1, and he was going to be the next great NO WR - and mostly fell on his face in Marquez Callaway.

Carr is going to be what he has been for 10 years. Average. We can circle back to AT Perry here. Brees could make AT Perry better than you might think. Brees elevated guys around him. Carr is not that guy. Carr relies on guys to make him better, not the other way around like Brees. And sure, theres only 1 Brees. But Carr does not have that trait in him to project UDFAs like AT Perry becoming stars in the NFL.

We signed a DE, then he had neck surgery the week after. The defense is largely the same, just older. And we were already old.

Otherwise we had a decent draft with the picks we had. The offense SHOULD be better from a playcalling standpoint. But the o line is going to dictate a lot in that. The offensive staff seems like it was a good move.

Flip side, this schedule is much tougher than last years. Last year we played 4 upper half (zero elite) quarterbacks and we were 0-4 against them. This year we play Mahomes, Herbert, Cousins, Cousins, Dak, Hurts, Watson, Love, Stafford and we will get the Sean Payton Bowl and we always seem to make rookie qbs hall of famers right out the gate - so we play Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix.

So a largely unchanged team that went 9-8 against a far easier schedule, with a new offensive staff. If we win 9, itll be far more impressive than last years 9 wins. I think we are a 6-9 win team.