Concerns for Saints remain same as one year ago with one exception

As the 2020 season is set to begin for the New Orleans Saints, the strengths are obvious.

Despite his advanced age, Drew Brees is still an elite quarterback with perhaps the best command of his offense of any quarterback in the NFL. Brees is an extension of Sean Payton and Pete Carmichael.

The quarterback room is once again a huge strength.

A year ago, the Saints had the best quarterback roster in the NFL with Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, who went 5-0 as a starter, and Taysom Hill with his unique, freakish athletic ability.

With Hill back and a proven NFL starter in Jameis Winston in the fold, the Saints are well stocked and well prepared at the most important position on the field.

With Alvin Kamara back healthy, the Saints have a top-shelf running back. Latavius Murray was solid a year ago, Dwayne Washington shows promise as a runner and Ty Montgomery is a versatile player, another toy in the room for Payton to utilize in games.

Tight end is a good spot with Jared Cook, Josh Hill and Adam Trautman.

The deep and versatile secondary is perhaps the best in the team’s history.

The kicking game is elite with Wil Lutz, Thomas Morstead and the best return man in the league in Deonte Harris.

When last we saw the New Orleans Saints on Jan. 5 of this year, they were losing as a solid, heavy favorite at home to the Minnesota Vikings 26-20 in overtime.

It was the sixth straight playoff loss by one score, an excruciating statistic. The “close but no cigar” axiom is too kind to apply to some of the playoff losses in the Payton regime.

Another ignominious statistic that stings is that the Saints were the first-ever 13-3 team to lose an NFL Wild Card playoff game.

Minnesota had 71 offensive snaps while New Orleans had just 51. If you do not have the ball, you cannot score. The Vikings had the ball for 36:56 to just 27:24 for the Saints.

The Vikings controlled the line-of-scrimmage on both sides of the ball and won the game in the old fashioned way of blocking and tackling.

The aftermath saw the Saints decide to move on from Larry Warford at right guard but to double down on Andrus Peat, awarding him with a new five-year deal worth $57.5 million, a surprise to some.

New Orleans surprised many, but not me, by drafting interior offensive lineman Cesar Ruiz in the first round of this year’s draft.

Clearly, the moves were intended to improve the interior offensive line and Payton has clearly built his team inside out, investing first round picks in Peat, Ramczyk, Ruiz, Cam Jordan, Sheldon Rankins and Marcus Davenport.

Peat was a major investment, the 13th overall pick in the 2015 draft.

Peat is versatile, having played every position but center on the offensive line for New Orleans. He has made the Pro Bowl the last two seasons.

By many analytics, Pro Bowls aside, Peat has not played to the level of the 13th overall pick in the draft, though he has distinguished himself in solid fashion.

The Stanford product has missed 15 games in his five seasons, an average of three per season. He has never played in all 16 regular season games.

Erik McCoy was a second round pick, the 48th overall, in last year’s NFL draft. He started every game for the Saints at center a year ago and did a solid job and has a good future. He will man the center spot Sunday against Tampa Bay.

Ruiz is dealing with an ankle sprain. Will he be healthy enough to play Sunday?

If there were an offseason and preseason, chances are that Ruiz would have taken over the center spot with McCoy moving to right guard.

With no such preparation or luxury, the Saints are smart to leave McCoy at center, the captain position of the offensive line, where line calls are made and plays originate.

If Ruiz cannot go Sunday, Nick Easton will get the nod.

Easton played in 10 games, starting six a year ago and performed admirably. Easton drew three penalties while allowing one sack.

Of course, tackles Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk are as good a tandem as there is in the league.

The question remains—are the Saints better in the interior region of their offensive line?

The health and thus, the performance of Rankins and Davenport was the second concern at the end of last season.

Rankins has now had a pair of serious lower leg injuries and there is concern about chronic Achilles problems. He missed seven games as a rookie and six games a year ago.

When healthy, Rankins, entering his fifth year in the final year of his contract, can be disruptive, very productive, but his biggest asset is his quickness. Have the injuries robbed him of that unique asset?

There was also the rumor, based on at least one published report, that the Saints were considering trading Rankins as part of the effort to get Jadaveon Clowney.

Davenport has missed six games, three in each of his first two seasons in the league. He is long and athletic and has played hurt, but once again, he is dealing with an injury (elbow) that is a concern.

Perhaps that explains why Payton made such a strong play to acquire Clowney.

Those two players remain concerns. Their peak performance is needed if the Saints are to have a chance to win a second Super Bowl.

The other concern from a year ago is at linebacker.

Gone is A.J. Klein.

Kiko Alonso is injured and will not play for a while.

New Orleans spent a third round pick (74th overall) on Zack Baun and he has a promising future but battled an injury during training camp.

Demario Davis was perhaps the best free agent signing in the NFL in 2018. A year ago, Davis earned first team All-Pro honors. He was brilliant and is listed as the starter on the weakside.

Meanwhile, Alex Anzalone is listed as a starter at middle linebacker this season. A good athlete, Anzalone has been crippled by chronic shoulder injuries. He missed 12 games in his rookie season of 2017 and missed 14 games a year ago.

To put it in perspective, Anzalone has played in 22 games while missing 26 games in his three seasons.

Can he be counted on?

Kaden Elliss, a seventh-round draft pick in 2019, is listed as the starter on the strong side.

Elliss missed all but three games in his rookie season with a torn ACL.

Veteran Craig Robertson is still dependable in reserve and there is hope that Alonso, who played well last season, will return. Chase Hansen is the other reserve.

Of course, the Saints will not line up with three linebackers very often, most often with two and sometimes with just one, due to a deep, versatile secondary with hybrid players who can play close to the line of scrimmage.

The final concern from a year ago was finding any depth at wide receiver.

Michael Thomas was the very best in the NFL but Ted Ginn Jr. saw his production drop off and the Saints subsequently moved on from him.

Tre’Quan Smith showed some promise but was inconsistent.

Enter Emmanuel Sanders, which should mitigate, if not solve the problem. The presence of Sanders and a healthy Cook and a healthy Kamara will help take the pressure off of Smith to be a primary contributor. This should be his year to blossom.

The threat of Taysom Hill and the possible emergence of draft pick Trautman should provide a very good nucleus of weapons in the passing game for Drew Brees.

Then, there is the speed of Harris, which can be used to stretch the field at wide receiver.

The bottom line entering the season is that the Saints are one of two favorites to win the NFC for a reason. New Orleans is very good, with a good roster and a good coaching staff. The Saints are motivated, after the crushing endings to three straight seasons.

Now, it is time to find out if those lingering concerns have been solved sufficiently to make a serious run at winning it all.

To win a Super Bowl, you have to be good, make that very good, and you have to be lucky, sometimes very lucky.

By the way, getting the top seed can really help. Getting a bye is huge, as we saw a year ago.

Catching Tampa Bay immediately should benefit the Saints, a veteran team. The Bucs have a lot of new pieces which may take time to mesh.

The Saints and the NFL are back!