The next head coach is inheriting a mess (15 Viewers)

[3ParStillDriver]

What ever pic we get we need to trade away for as many pics as possible and get ready for the 2026 draft

Can't agree. The 2026 draft doesn't look incredible enough for that strategy. This draft is pretty deep in trench fighters on both sides of the ball, which is exactly where we are weakest. We also don't have a QB that elevates the players around them to build around, and there is none in this draft, and next year is questionable. Some people think Arch Manning, but its not gonna happen. First off, he may not declare till 2028 (this uncles, Eli and Peyton are pushing him to stay till he graduates), second, there will be about 15 other teams dying to get him. Whoever gets that number 1 pick isn't trading it away and it likely won't be us.

What we should do, is rather spending a top 5 pick on Travis Hunter, is trade down a few, acquire another pick or 2, draft Ashton Jeanty to give us two solid RB's (Kamara is getting up their in age anyways and Taysom is as well and can't stay in games) then target interior Oline and Dline. Better to be able to run when we want, pass when we need to, while stopping the run.

Back to hard nose trench football.

That's honestly the only way I think we can win some (with the right coach, many) games. We've seen just how badly this offense drops in quality the moment Taysom and/or Kamara are out of the game. Kamara is approaching 30, Taysom 35. We also have no solid backup RB behind Kamara. We've got to land a baller there asap. That can't wait, and we will be in position to take what many are saying is the best RB to enter the draft in a decade.

We've also seen how porous we are in the trenches with the exception of Bresee, Fuaga, Penning and McCoy. If we can't win in the trenches on both sides of the ball, we won't win.

 

[Dog]

I don't think it feels that much different to when Payton was hired, truthfully. And that went OK.

Was thinking the same thing. Payton turned around this team in his first year, and it was worse than this one. I'm for bringing in a young offensive minded coach with tons of energy, like Payton was in 2006.

 

[Eagle02]

Can't agree. The 2026 draft doesn't look incredible enough for that strategy. This draft is pretty deep in trench fighters on both sides of the ball, which is exactly where we are weakest. We also don't have a QB that elevates the players around them to build around, and there is none in this draft, and next year is questionable. Some people think Arch Manning, but its not gonna happen. First off, he may not declare till 2028 (this uncles, Eli and Peyton are pushing him to stay till he graduates), second, there will be about 15 other teams dying to get him. Whoever gets that number 1 pick isn't trading it away and it likely won't be us.

What we should do, is rather spending a top 5 pick on Travis Hunter, is trade down a few, acquire another pick or 2, draft Ashton Jeanty to give us two solid RB's (Kamara is getting up their in age anyways and Taysom is as well and can't stay in games) then target interior Oline and Dline. Better to be able to run when we want, pass when we need to, while stopping the run.

Back to hard nose trench football.

That's honestly the only way I think we can win some (with the right coach, many) games. We've seen just how badly this offense drops in quality the moment Taysom and/or Kamara are out of the game. Kamara is approaching 30, Taysom 35. We also have no solid backup RB behind Kamara. We've got to land a baller there asap. That can't wait, and we will be in position to take what many are saying is the best RB to enter the draft in a decade.

We've also seen how porous we are in the trenches with the exception of Bresee, Fuaga, Penning and McCoy. If we can't win in the trenches on both sides of the ball, we won't win.

Am I confused or did you contradict yourself? The poster you quoted said to trade our pic and move down acquiring more pics. You said you can't agree. Then you said to do the same thing in your second paragraph. I may be missing something. I agree with the premise though of trading down. I don't think a qb is the biggest issue at this point. Carr showed in the first two games he's capable. It's not a Drew or Brady but he is a decent qb. We have bigger needs primarily on both lines in my opinion. Acquire pics and build in the draft.

 

[play action]

Refs and injuries didn't do Allen any favors. Allens two min decisions were horrendous. Over and over and over. The whole go for it/ dont, challenge don't challenge was always ugh as well. Rizzo needs to be much smarter and way more fired up. We will compete the rest of the season if he is. Win maybe, compete for sure.

 

[3ParStillDriver]

Am I confused or did you contradict yourself? The poster you quoted said to trade our pic and move down acquiring more pics. You said you can't agree. Then you said to do the same thing in your second paragraph. I may be missing something. I agree with the premise though of trading down. I don't think a qb is the biggest issue at this point. Carr showed in the first two games he's capable. It's not a Drew or Brady but he is a decent qb. We have bigger needs primarily on both lines in my opinion. Acquire pics and build in the draft.

The post I was responding to was saying to stock pics to target the 2026 draft (which is why I spoke of Arch Manning, many for some reason assume he will enter the draft in 2026). My theory of a successful path forward is targeting this draft (although in detail) due to how much talent is in the trenches which happens to be our weakest area, couple the fact that our two best weapons are aging and there happens to be what many (or at least some) are calling the best RB talent in a generation in this draft that we just happen to be in position to draft, possibly even trade back and draft. Point being in summary, this draft has exactly what we need the most in the worst ways, and we will be in position to take full advantage of it.

Off topic : I appreciate your humility in the question. It was clear you assumed I contradicted myself, but your humility led you to believe you were missing something which sparked the question, rather than pride assuming you were correct. I'm not important by any stretch of the imagination but I take a great liking seeing people with humility. Something I feel our society greatly lacks.

 

[meezy0236]

I think you can look no further than Dan Campbell and what he inherited with the Lions. First off he didn't come in with much fanfare and I'm sure Lions fans probably felt this guy was virtually an unknown, and they'd probably be in for much of the same, considering they had a retread at QB. They did have some good talent, but something was just not clicking. He went 3-13-1 in his first season, in season two, started 1-6, finished 9-8, and from there we all see what's happening.

The point of this was, any new coach that's hired will need the patience of not only the people that hired him, but the fans as well. Even the first year Campbell was hired, the team showed promise and they were able to build on that promise because management believed in the vision, and now it's paying off big time. This could be the Saints, because I do feel there's more talent on this team then the Lions had on that 2021 roster, they just need the right person to be hired to capitalize on that talent, and given the time to build on it. Now, who that person will be, well, that's the bigger question.

 

[3ParStillDriver]

I think you can look no further than Dan Campbell and what he inherited with the Lions. First off he didn't come in with much fanfare and I'm sure Lions fans probably felt this guy was virtually an unknown, and they'd probably be in for much of the same, considering they had a retread at QB. They did have some good talent, but something was just not clicking. He went 3-13-1 in his first season, in season two, started 1-6, finished 9-8, and from there we all see what's happening.

The point of this was, any new coach that's hired will need the patience of not only the people that hired him, but the fans as well. Even the first year Campbell was hired, the team showed promise and they were able to build on that promise because management believed in the vision, and now it's paying off big time. This could be the Saints, because I do feel there's more talent on this team then the Lions had on that 2021 roster, they just need the right person to be hired to capitalize on that talent, and given the time to build on it. Now, who that person will be, well, that's the bigger question.

Theres a lot to unpack with Campbell. 1 thing that many are not mentioning, is that he is a QB guru. It's not a coincidence that Goff gets into the talk of MVP under Campbell. The question I have, is how much of that is Campbell vs Ben Johnson. 50/50? 30/70? who knows. We'll get our answer as Ben Johnson will get a head coaching job sooner then later. But I'm not seeing any coaches in the NFL who can pull a Dan Campbell right now. Many assume Ben Johnson is the most likely to be able to do it, but we've seen many great OC's move on to bomb out as head coaches.

 

[Elvis]

Rizzi is going to change just enough that I think we'll probably get 2-3 more wins making the draft position a bit worse. Still top 8-10, but I doubt top 5. The cap problems are self propelling until we actively try to handle them and I'll bet that conversation will scare more than a couple of candidates off. Guys like Ben Johnson and Bobby Slowik more than likely see their long term future as 10+ year head coaches and won't come here. If we don't go with retread, we'll end up with a guy that doesn't know if they'll ever quite make it to NFL head coach and will take a shot at it with us and make HC money for a few years. Rizzi himself probably fits that category.

 

[3ParStillDriver]

Rizzi is going to change just enough that I think we'll probably get 2-3 more wins making the draft position a bit worse. Still top 8-10, but I doubt top 5. The cap problems are self propelling until we actively try to handle them and I'll bet that conversation will scare more than a couple of candidates off. Guys like Ben Johnson and Bobby Slowik more than likely see their long term future as 10+ year head coaches and won't come here. If we don't go with retread, we'll end up with a guy that doesn't know if they'll ever quite make it to NFL head coach and will take a shot at it with us and make HC money for a few years. Rizzi himself probably fits that category.

This is my current fear as well going forward. Loomis has shown he wants to continue his plan, and his plan seems to involve coaches who have been here, working under his plan.

I wouldn't be surprised what-so-ever if Loomis names Rizzi the permanent head coach in the offseason, since it will fully allow Loomis to continue whatever plan he had.

 

[St. Geezy]

Almost every team is one good coach, one good draft, and/or a couple of surprising free agent signings away from glory.

Our mess isn’t THAT bad; it’s just looking that way because of the injuries and because of the very superficial, black and white 2025 cap outlook that the media is shoving down everyone’s throats as being bleak.

 

[St. Geezy]

Good coaches overcome many obstacles. Coaching isn’t easy unless you inherit a Super Bowl team like Siefert or Switzer. Head coaching candidates are typically up for any challenge. Regardless of the situation. If they are not, then they have no business being a coach

Exactly…these job offers are rare and hard to get. What Ben Johnson did last year is rare.

If a guy is interviewing for a job, he wants it, and its associated life-changing pay raise, badly.

This is a culmination of a life long dream for these guys; they’re not turning their noses up at offers.

 

[St. Widge]

There are the names of the coaches that Triplett mentioned as possibilities in a recent article. He seems to think Aaron Glenn is the front runner but here are the names he mentioned. Some he shot down as not likely but all are possibilities:

Ben Johnson
Bobby Slowik
Bill Belichick
Mike Vrabel
Aaron Glenn
Kliff Kingsbury
Todd Monken
Brian Flores
Vikings OC Wes Phillips
Packers OC Adam Stenavich
Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell
Lions quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell
Matt Nagy
Steve Spagnuolo
Darren Rizzi
Klint Kubiak
Joe Woods
Michael Hodges

Some like Johnson and Belichick may be unobtainable and some like Vrable, Slowik, Nagy, Rizzi, Kubiak, Woods, Hodges and Spagnuolo would not be my choice, but most of these guys are good to very good options as a HC and I would think that most of these guys would take the job. So I don't think it's close to as bleak as some make it out to be. The truth is that even though Ben Johnson is the hot candidate, there is no guarantee that he succeeds. In the end you have to pick the best fit for your organization and give them the players they say they need.

Personally, I think it's going to end up being Aaron Glenn and I wouldn't have a problem with that pick at all.

 

[Hedon James]

Good coaches overcome many obstacles. Coaching isn’t easy unless you inherit a Super Bowl team like Siefert or Switzer. Head coaching candidates are typically up for any challenge. Regardless of the situation. If they are not, then they have no business being a coach

Agreed. I don't want to talk to ANY candidate who doesn't believe HE, and he alone, is the solution to our problem(s). If a candidate is turning us down because he's got a "better situation" somewhere else, I'll drive him to the airport myself.

 

[Hedon James]

The post I was responding to was saying to stock pics to target the 2026 draft (which is why I spoke of Arch Manning, many for some reason assume he will enter the draft in 2026). My theory of a successful path forward is targeting this draft (although in detail) due to how much talent is in the trenches which happens to be our weakest area, couple the fact that our two best weapons are aging and there happens to be what many (or at least some) are calling the best RB talent in a generation in this draft that we just happen to be in position to draft, possibly even trade back and draft. Point being in summary, this draft has exactly what we need the most in the worst ways, and we will be in position to take full advantage of it.

Off topic : I appreciate your humility in the question. It was clear you assumed I contradicted myself, but your humility led you to believe you were missing something which sparked the question, rather than pride assuming you were correct. I'm not important by any stretch of the imagination but I take a great liking seeing people with humility. Something I feel our society greatly lacks.

I noticed that too. He didn't ASSUME, then extrapolate his assumption to counter and debate. he asked a question to clarify. novel and refreshing approach. Classy guy, and classy response on your part, IMO. I wish we had MORE of this on this forum. We all want the Saints to be the strongest & longest dynasty the NFL has ever experienced, and "groupthink" is almost always a BAD thing. Why not welcome other perspectives? Kudos to both of you!

 

[MJ in Calif]

Under typical circumstances, whenever there is a HC change, the new guy coming coming in will always be inheriting some sort of mess one way or another. That's usually why there's a change..

Good coaches can turn things around pretty quickly. We, of all fan bases should know that. They will have to give the new hire somewhat of a longer leash though as I do not see another Brees out there waiting to be signed or drafted.