Reggie Bush makes the Saints offense extremely dangerous.
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The 2006 Saints season
seemed a lot like a Disney movie or maybe it just gave Oliver Stone another
conspiracy theory to toss around. The
Saints got better fast and their fans need to thank the Houston Texans—Reggie
Bush was sort of a good player. Besides
winning the Reggie Bush sweepstakes the Saints got an offensive-minded coach
and a previously underrated quarterback. Sean
Peyton, Reggie Bush and Drew Brees
really put a stamp on the Saints in 2006.
Even though this season won’t have quite the same emotional high for the
city of New Orleans the Saints have a chance improve on 2006.
Offense
The Saints offense is the
best in the NFC South and the main reason for that is Drew Brees. Brees has shown he can run Peyton’s offense and run it very well. No other team in
the division has a QB with the playmaking ability of Brees. I guess the Saints could get by with anyone
at QB though if they could throw a screen pass to the man who may soon be the
most exciting player in the NFL, Reggie Bush.
Bush will probably never be a guy who gets 25 carries a game but he
could get 20 touches a game between rushing an passing and any time you get him
the ball in the open field good things can happen.
The one area of this
offense that may be a little bit weak is the receiving group after Marques Colston. The fact that Bush can act as a WR really will ease the burden on
the wide outs. Devery Henderson will be asked to be the
No. 2 this year while they groom rookie Robert
Meachem for 2008. They did
pretty well last year and they only really lost veteran Joe Horn.
Expect another very good year for the Saints offense.
Defense
The defense did just enough last year to let the offense win most games. The defense was very aggressive and was able to create 38 sacks and did a pretty good job in scoring giving up just over 20 points a game. Though they didn’t really create a lot of turnovers, only 23.
The Saints were 23rd against the run last year. If they don’t improve their run defense expect to see more teams run the ball to control the clock. The Saints offense is their strength and the more you keep them off the field the better your chances to win. The Saints did try to improve their LB corps by bringing in Brian
Simmons and Dhani Jones.
They also added some depth in the secondary (Jason
David and Kevin Kaesviharn). A concern is that they haven’t really added
any big playmakers to this group, either through the draft or free agency. The defense doesn’t need to be great to win the NFC South; it just needs to be average.
Player
Spotlight
Reggie Bush,
RB
Bush put up 1,300 yards
in rushing and receiving in 2006 and this year he should easily put up 1,500
yards or more. Bush is an explosive player, and the question remains whether or not the Saints will continue to have vet Duece McAllister do the heavy lifting; if so, Bush will likely not get as much time with the ball in his hands as fantasy owners would like.
Marques
Colston, WR
Joe Horn is gone and
Colston is clearly the No. 1 receiver on this team. It should be interesting to see how he reacts to the extra
attention this year from the opposing defenses; he sure won’t sneak up on
anyone this year. I think his targets go up, and so will his numbers.
Drew Brees, QB
Did anyone see last year
coming for Drew Brees? I know he went
from Marty Ball to Sean Peyton, but almost a 1,000 extra yards passing in only
54 more attempts--- that’s impressive.
I don’t see any reason for Brees to do anything but thrive in this
offense. I would expect his numbers to
come down a little as defenses will focus more on stopping the passing game,
but he’s still a Top Five fantasy QB.
Franchise Player
None
Transition Player
None
Players Re-Signed
LB Scott Shanle
DE Charles Grant
DB Jay Bellamy
Players Acquired
WR
David Patten (from Redskins)
TE
Eric Johnson (from 49ers)
DT
Kendrick Clancy (from Cardinals)
LB
Dhani Jones (from Eagles),
LB
Brian Simmons (from Bengals)
CB
Jason David (from Colts)
S
Kevin Kaesviharn (from Bengals)
K
Olindo Mare (from Dolphins)
Players
Lost
WR/KR
Michael Lewis (released),
WR Joe
Horn (to Falcons)
TE
Ernie Conwell (released)
G
Montrae Holland (to Broncos)
DT
Willie Whitehead (released)
LB
Terrence Melton (to Panthers)
CB
Curtis Deloatch (to Panthers)
S
Bryan Scott (to Titans)
S Omar
Stoutmire (to Redskins)
K
Billy Cundiff (to Falcons)
K John
Carney (released)
At 28, Keith has been playing fantasy football of half of his life. He is new to
writing for Sports Grumblings and will be covering the NFC South for the 2007
season.