Saints have a surprisingly low projected 2021 win total (1 Viewer)

[Gumbo's Dad]

About right. We are a .500 club even with Sean Payton as coach. You cannot overcome personnel losses. On the positive side, we are well positioned for the 2022 draft. The 2021 season is a mulligan. We were spoiled for 15 years.

 

[LiterOCola]

Seems right. There's been a lot of subtraction from the roster, but no meaningful additions to compensate. The expectations should be lower.

 

[Booker]

The team will need to find a new identity, and I'm looking forward to finding out what it's going to be, but I'm bracing myself that double digit losses are more likely than double digit wins. Most teams that lose a longtime starting quarterback usually have a downturn while they recalibrate, and we're likely to be no different. It's not just the talent on the field that will be missing, it's the leadership and culture of excellence that Drew brought with him.

Going in our favor is that Payton's never had a double digit loss season, but (I like how saint_drago put that), a lot of that was because he had Drew dragging bad teams to seven wins. I'm expecting a transition year, but hopefully he keeps the team in contention while they reload.

 

[sammymvpknight]

If Jameis takes a step forward...we could be a 10-12 win team. But if he plays like he typically plays, we are likely looking at 7-9 wins. I don't think that this team is as good as it was last year...we've lost lots of good players. So it'd be hard to predict a 13+ win season.

 

[tomwaits]

I find it a little humorous that the same ones on here saying losing Brees is the reason for the low win total are the same ones that wanted him to retired. SMH

I can see it both ways. We lost HOF caliber QB either way. He's just not the same guy anymore, so if he was still here, or if he retired, you still don't have what he used to be.

 

[B4YOU]

I think 9 wins is very generous. I would have suspected and over/under at 7 or 8. We have lost QB, TE, DT, DE, LB, and CB. There isn’t enough cap or talent on the roster to say we are replacing them with equal players.

 

[Goatman Saint]

It will depend a lot on Winston. He will make or break a lot of this season. Also, let’s face it a lot is riding on Ganderson to replace that sack total. Sure, it should be Davenport, but he’s needed to hold down the benches. Who will be CB2? If Kwon comes back healthy that would be a massive boost, but, highly doubtful. 9-10 wins at this point sounds like a very realistic scenario.

 

[SK21209]

There is a wide range of potential outcomes for next year's team. There's a chance we really suffer from the lack of depth, Jameis is a below average starting quarterback and we're 9-8 or worse (I have projecting schedules with 17 games). There's also a chance our defense is about the same as last year, our skill players on offense are healthier (and better), Jameis is actually an upgrade on the version of Brees we saw last year and we go 14-3 or 13-4.

 

[KCWhoDat]

Who knows, I don’t know....it is what it is.

 

[saint_drago]

Saints schedule next year is brutal. Play SuperBowl Champs twice the AFC and NFC champioship game finalist. Seahawks, Titans and an up and coming dolphins team.

If any coach can get a team to play beyond expectations its Payton. In 2018, 19 and 20 Saints were projected to win 9, 10 and 10 games respectively. Its the postseason i worry about. Im hoping and praying this is the year N.O gets it done.

Yeah there aren't many games that look like gimmes as of right now. The AFC East could be a problem. The Jets are going to have a new look, the Bills are really good now, and the Dolphins could see a massive infusion of young talent with all their picks. If Cam is starting for the Patriots when we play them then I like our chances.

Even with all of the talent we've lost all over the field the foundation is still strong. If Jameis can be serviceable we should be a tough out. If he's good, well, who knows. This is the challenge that SP has been waiting for. You know he's been thinking about life after Brees the past few years. He knows what it's going to take to win games without Drew. I have no doubt he'll be ready.

 

[dvdman]

We’ll probably win 12-13 games again and not show up in the playoffs AGAIN!

 

[BoNcHiE]

9 is high. You rarely see an O/U on total wins above 11. When I clicked this thread, I thought it was gonna be like 5 or 6.

 

[eddie94]

I’m going to use my own version of math for this… Ha! Figure, we are 8-1 over the past two years without Brees. Let’s sprinkle in the players we’ve lost and say that is worth 2 additional losses the past two years; making us 6-3. You you double that and it makes us 12-6.

It’s a 17 game season and pure luck/good draft gets us the extra game. So I say, over 9 wins making it a 12-5 season.

(All “fun” math aside, I am hoping for a playoff appearance and a meaningful game or two in January 2022!)

 

[Madmarsha]

We lost one of the best QBs to ever play football this offseason to retirement... I'm not trying to fart on Saints Fans' French fries... but people need to lower their expectations this season... I am hoping for 10 wins, but I am not going to be shocked if we win less than 9 games. Is what it is.

Remind me never to let you near my food.

 

[Cage1]

Looks about right to me. When you said surprisingly low, I was thinking like 5