When NFL stud receiver Emmanuel Sanders joined the New Orleans Saints, the vision was for him to be a reliable No. 2 target behind former NFL Offensive Player of the Year Michael Thomas. This would have the Saints a potent duo of playmakers for the passing game for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, Thomas was injured for the better part of two full seasons and Sanders became an unexpected cap casualty due to COVID-19 related realities forcing the first NFL cap decrease year over year since its inception. Since then the Saints wide receiver room has been a major frustration among the fan base.
While players like Tre’Quan Smith, Marquez Callaway and Deonte Harris have had contribution moments – the Saints have failed to develop a player into a consistent producer without Thomas. This was illustrated by Jameis Winston passing for a career low 167.4 passing yards per game. Winston is a former 5,000 yard passer in 2019 and this mark shattered his previous career low of 252.6 yards per game by over 80 yards.
Part of Winston’s drop was intentional as the Saints prioritized limiting turnovers and complimenting its elite defense, but it’s undeniable the lack of playmaking support in the passing game was a significant factor. The failure of developing young consistent receivers led to the firing of long time receivers coach Curtis Johnson this offseason.
Johnson was replaced by Kodi Burns, previously with the Tennessee Volunteer program. This was the first step in overhauling a group that forced a stall out of what was once an elite passing offense. This offseason, Mickey Loomis has said it clearly: “we’ve got some work to do to complete that room.
With Smith, Ty Montgomery and Kenny Stills unrestricted free agents and Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Harris as restricted ones, the Saints receiver group may look quite a bit different this coming season. The Saints will have decisions to make about which players they try to bring back but it’s safe to assume they’ll also look to make upgrades.
While they will be counting on Thomas to return to provide the biggest offseason boost of them all, acquiring and developing more consistent players at this position seems like a clear necessity.
The good news is that the NFL draft has over 700 more players in it than it did a year ago. That is because many college players took advantage of the COVID-19 rules allowing them to extend their career another season.
As Jeff Ireland, the Saints assistant GM and Vice President, noted: “There’s always receivers in every round and every expectation of the draft there’s receivers everywhere. This draft is no different”.
The NFL combine certainly gave even more reason for optimism.
In 2019, the combine set a then NFL record with seven receivers in the class running a sub 4.40 40-time. This year, 12 players did it, shattering the old record. They were led by Tyquan Thornton of Baylor, who ran a blazing fast 4.21 time.
Further, an eye popping six players who were not expected to be 1st round picks prior to the combine scored above 9.00 out of 10 on the Relative Athletic Score. That’s a metric the Saints have used to guide many selection under the Ireland/Loomis regime.
This receiver draft class is extremely fast, extremely deep and as Ireland said there will be many appealing options in all rounds of the draft. So even if the Saints don’t end up with highly touted receivers like Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Jameson Williams, Treylon Burks or Drake London in the first round, it appears there’s much promising talent in this draft that could make an impact as a rookie.
Loomis agrees, plainly saying this year’s class has “a really strong group of receivers”. He added, “it used to be 10-12 years ago studies suggested it really took a receiver 3 years to get acclimated and have success and recently that trend has changed. Guys have come in right away as rookies and had significant success. It’s different from 10 years ago. College teams throw a lot more than they used to, plain and simple”.
Not only does the draft offer a unique opportunity this year at that position in terms of talent depth, Loomis feels there will be more talent in the undrafted class than ever before which will also present unique opportunities.
Because the wide receiver class is so deep, this is good news for the Saints when it comes to free agency, too. A deep receiver class in the draft will perhaps devalue the middle class of the free agency pool. Elite players like Chris Godwin, Davante Adams and Allen Robinson will still get massive contracts, of course, but you wonder if other less renown receiver free agents may get disappointing offers considering how loaded the draft is.
Receiver needy NFL teams may elect to not spend at the mid to lower tier level for that position group when they know they can land a good young player in the draft, electing to spend their money at other positions of need. This may allow the Saints, who have some salary cap limitations again this offseason, to be a player in this market.
Ultimately it’s clear the Saints’ front office agrees with the fans and want an overhaul at receiver, even with Thomas coming back. It’s a safe assumption we could be looking at multiple new faces in this room. And the good news is that things are setting up extremely well so far for a significant amount of talent to be available to the Saints, both in the draft and free agency.
Expect the receivers to be significantly improved for the Saints in 2022.
Andrew Juge is the co-host of “The Saints Happy Hour Podcast.”