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It may be hard to believe, but it has been 16 ½ years since Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints captured their one and only Super Bowl title.
February 7, 2010 marked the greatest day in Saints history.
The New Orleans Saints began play as an NFL expansion team in Tulane Stadium against the Los Angeles Rams on September 17, 1967. The opening kick-off was returned by Saints wide receiver John Gilliam for a touchdown as 80,000 fans roared their approval.
Sadly, the Saints lost Game #1 27-13 and finished their initial NFL season with a 3-11 record.
Twenty years later, the New Orleans Saints had yet to post a winning season. Successful former USFL coach Jim Mora was hired to lead the team. Coach Mora turned around this franchise and posted five winning seasons over the next seven years.
They finally made the playoffs for the first time in 1987.
WhoDat Nation was born in the mid 1980’s!
Fans gleefully chanted “Who Dat say they gonna beat ‘dem Saints?” as New Orleans had finally became a regular contender in the NFC.
Until they weren’t.
The 1992 NFL playoffs marked the final post-season appearance for the Saints for another eight seasons. A surprising 2000 New Orleans Saints team finished 10-6 and finally won the first playoff game in the history of this long-suffering franchise.
In 2006, it was new head coach Sean Payton and newly acquired quarterback Drew Brees teamed-up to rebuild the Saints into a long-time NFC powerhouse over the next 15 seasons.
Drew Brees retired after the 2020 season. He was recently inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Coach Sean Payton “retired” a year later. He opted for the television booth with FOX Sports. The Denver Broncos coaxed him to return to coaching with an eye-popping contract offer in 2022.
Sean Payton has turned-around another NFL franchise.
His Broncos have become top playoff contenders in the AFC after only three seasons as the team’s head coach.
Those two legends are no longer part of the NFL franchise in New Orleans. Saints fans still love their football team, but the playoffs seem like a distant memory.
Successive years of 5-12 in 2024 and 6-11 in 2025 are making many Saints fans wax nostalgic about “the good old days” of two decades ago.
Is Kellen Moore a miracle worker or will he become just another short term coach?
The Saints hired and later fired former defensive coordinator Dennis Allen after 2 ½ seasons following the departure of head coach Sean Payton.
The 2025 season saw New Orleans hand the coaching baton to Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore with the top job. Moore was a dynamic quarterback in college with Boise State during the Broncos’ ascension in major college football twenty years ago.
Kellen Moore then played five seasons in the NFL before becoming the quarterbacks coach in Dallas. He would be elevated to the team’s offensive coordinator for three seasons. Moore earned a Super Bowl ring as the OC for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024.
Ironically, that Super Bowl victory came in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
Kellen Moore became the new head coach for the New Orleans Saints less than one week later.
Moore’s offensive knowledge did not seem to help the Saints’ putrid offense last season. New Orleans scored only 18 points per game to finish in 28th place in the NFL.
Saints fans saw a glimmer of hope after second-round rookie draft pick Tyler Shough (pronounced “Shuck”) was inserted into the line-up for the second half of the season.
The Saints offense immediately caught fire as New Orleans won four of its last five games to finish 6-11.
An underappreciated Saints defense finished in the middle of the NFL pack (16th) and allowed only 22 points per game for the 2025 season.
Off-season moves have firmed-up the Saints offense
The 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh saw the New Orleans Saints select:
Round 1 – Jordyn Tyson, wide receiver, Arizona State
Round 2 – Christen Miller, defensive tackle, Georgia
Round 3 – Oscar Delp, tight end, Georgia
Round 4 – Jeremiah Wright, offensive guard, Auburn
Round 4 – Bryce Lance, wide receiver, North Dakota State
Round 5 – Lorenzo Styles, defensive back, Ohio State
Round 6 – Barion Brown, wide receiver/return specialist, LSU
Round 7 – T.J. Hall, defensive back, Iowa
That made three wide receivers and a talented tight end taken with the eight draft picks.
Fifth year wide receiver Chris Olave has grabbed passes for more than 1,000 yards in three of his four years with the Saints.
He and quarterback Tyler Shough got their wish in the NFL draft. There are significant new weapons with this impressive trio of wide receiver draft selections plus a top tight end prospect in Oscar Delp.
It’s hard to believe that running back Alvin Kamara is entering his tenth NFL season.
The 2017 Rookie of the Year has been slowed by injuries over his career. Kamara has not played a full regular season since that initial 2017 campaign.
The team’s all-time leading rusher will be joined in the backfield this season by newly acquired running back Travis Etienne. He comes to the Saints from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Etienne (like Alvin Kamara) is exceptional at catching the ball coming out of the backfield.
This tandem should give NFC South defenses plenty to be concerned about.
The New Orleans Saints lost long-time offensive standout Taysom Hill to retirement at the end of last season. This versatile former BYU quarterback had played back-up quarterback, tight end, and running back over his nine seasons with the Saints. The oft-injured Hill became a fan favorite in New Orleans.
Can the Saints defense do it again in 2026?
A quick look at this year’s Saints draft picks showed that defense was definitely not a priority for the team.
Consider how ineffective the New Orleans Saints offense was in 2025. The team’s inability to score points kept the Saints defense on the field for longer than the NFL average. New Orleans’ 16th rated defense may show further improvement this season if the team’s offense stays on the field longer and give the defense more rest.
Defensive coordinator Brandon Staley (the former head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers) put together an opportunistic and relatively young defensive unit for the Saints in 2025. The team collected 20 turnovers last season. It was also ranked #3 in the NFL at shutting down the opposing offense on third down.
Former Alabama defensive back Kool-Aid McKinstry and former Washington first round defensive end selection Chase Young led a hungry New Orleans Saints defensive unit in 2025.
New Orleans’ popular and eight-time Pro Bowl selection Cameron Jordan was drafted in 2011. Now age 37, he remains a force at the other defensive end position for New Orleans.
A lack of depth may unravel the Saints this season
Injuries happen – especially in the NFL. For as optimistic as things look for the Saints first team units, a lack of quality depth (especially at quarterback) could sink the Saints chances in 2026.
Preseason games generally feature back-ups so that the coaches can determine which players deserve a spot on the team’s regular season roster.
The Saints 34-0 loss to the Los Angeles Rams last weekend in the second preseason game showed just how weak this team’s back-ups seem to be. They were skunked by the reserves from a Rams team which went 12-5 last year.
Seeing the other team’s reserves blank the Saints back-ups raised some warning flags about the upcoming season.
Speaking of back-ups, New Orleans is attempting to transform another top first round draft selection into a future weapon at quarterback.
Former New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson (the #3 overall pick in 2021 out of BYU) threw more interceptions (25) than touchdowns (23) during his three years with New York. Wilson was then shipped to Denver in 2024 and moved again last season to Miami as a reserve QB for the Dolphins.
Will head coach Kellen Moore (a former NFL quarterback) be able to restore the confidence of Zach Wilson and turn him into productive offensive weapon for the Saints?
Prediction time!
The first seven games in 2026 will tell us a lot about this year’s New Orleans Saints team.
New Orleans opens with two tough road games – at the Detroit Lions and at Baltimore to play the Ravens. They’re likely to be 0-2.
However, the next five games are all winnable (home for Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Minnesota), on the road at the New York Giants, and a (fake) home game in Paris against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
If the Saints are 5-2 or even 4-3 heading into the second half of the season, they have a realistic chance of going 9-8 this year. That record might be good enough to win a very balanced (but weak) NFC South.
I predict the Saints will finish 8-9 this season.
Anything better than 8-9 this season will have all Saints fans (me, included) downright giddy about the future of this football team.
Put away those paper bags (at least for now), Saints fans.
It’s “Who Dat!?” time once again in N’awlins!