Saints can’t keep treading water in Drew Brees’ final years

The New Orleans Saints have a true living legend in Drew Brees, a future Hall of Famer who’s still one of the best quarterbacks in the league even as he creeps closer to his 40s. Yet the Saints have been mired in mediocrity for quite some time now. They’ve made the playoffs just once in the past five years and finished under .500 the other four times.

The 2016 season was more of the same, with a top-notch offense getting undermined by a bottom-tier defense. New Orleans finished 7-9, a distant third in the NFC South behind the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was the Saints’ third straight 7-9 season, as once again Brees produced a Pro Bowl campaign with nothing to show for it.

Now Brees is another year older, and that magical 2010 Super Bowl run is one more year into the past. Head coach Sean Payton won a lot of goodwill by bringing the Lombardi Trophy to NOLA, but how much longer can the team be stuck in neutral?

Defensive leader Cameron Jordan is certainly aware of his team underachieving in recent years, and he told NFL.com that he’s eager to change that perception.

“I can’t be more excited to go on a Super Bowl run. But that’s not anything we have to talk about. We have to talk about three years of 7-9, and that’s unheard of for us. That’s something you never want to look back on. We’re looking to not only be in the playoffs, but looking to be deep in the playoffs.”

New Orleans did a lot to shuffle the roster in the offseason, but Brees only has so much time left. Did they do enough to get him back to the promised land?

Still chugging along at age 38, Brees isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. He crossed the 5,000-yard threshold for the fifth time in his career, leading the league with 5,208 yards while getting selected to his 10th Pro Bowl.

Brees is great even while the weapons around him keep changing. Two years after trading Jimmy Graham to the Seattle Seahawks, the Saints dealt Brandin Cooks to the New England Patriots earlier this spring. It’s not often a player of his caliber ends up on the trading block — Cooks led the team in receiving yards the past two seasons and is only 23 years old. In fairness to the Saints, Cooks reportedly wasn’t happy with his role on the offense and his rookie contract is set to expire after 2017.

Trading Cooks was undoubtedly a tough choice, but given the circumstances, it made a lot of sense for the Saints to sell high. Sure enough, they got a nice haul for him, receiving a first- and third-round pick from the Patriots. They also have a ready-made replacement in Michael Thomas, who had an excellent rookie season with 92 catches, 1,137 yards, and nine touchdowns.

The Saints used the Patriots’ No. 32 draft pick to select offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk. It was seen as a questionable move at the time, with SB Nation’s Dan Kadar giving a C+ grade and noting that the Saints could’ve targeted a pass rusher instead. As it turns out, the Ramczyk pick could end up being lucky timing. Starting left tackle Terron Armstead suffered a shoulder injury in OTAs that required surgery, putting him on the shelf for four-six months. Ramczyk will be thrown into the deep end pretty fast, but at least it will be valuable development time for a promising young talent.

Health is the biggest concern for the offensive line. Besides Armstead’s injury, center Max Unger is recovering from Lisfranc surgery and Ramczyk had hip surgery in January. New right guard Larry Warford, who signed a four-year, $34 million deal this offseason, hasn’t played all 16 games since his rookie year in 2013. Last year the line was ranked 12th-best by Pro Football Focus, but the line’s production could take a dip this season.

During free agency, the Saints also brought in Adrian Peterson and Ted Ginn Jr. to give Brees some more toys to play with, though both are risky signings for different reasons.

Peterson might be the biggest wild card of the bunch. He’s only two years removed from winning the league’s rushing title, but knee injuries derailed his 2016 season and he’s 32 years old now. At this point, you simply can’t count on Peterson carrying the full workload in the backfield. Fortunately, he won’t have to — Mark Ingram is still around after putting up 1,043 yards last year, while third-round rookie Alvin Kamara offers potential as a pass-catching specialist. If Peterson has anything left, the Saints have the depth to keep him fresh and get the most out of his carries.

The early reviews on Peterson — emphasis on early — are promising at least.

“He’s a stud, man,” Brees said during OTAs. “He looks the part. It’s been impressive.”

Ginn has always been a one-dimensional receiver with poor hands, but he’s still productive on special teams and gives Brees a straight-line speedster that can keep defenses honest. Even at age 32, Ginn remains a potent deep threat, hauling in 14 touchdowns over the past two years.

This should be a strong offensive unit once again. Thomas has emerged as Brees’ new No. 1 receiver, while Willie Snead is also a capable receiver. Ingram and Peterson will be a fine running back duo if Peterson’s knees holds up, and Brees has at least one or two more good years in him. Payton is one of the more gifted offensive minds of his generation, and he always takes care of his side of the field.

It’s the other side that’s been a problem.

It sounds like a broken record at this point: the Saints’ defense was bad once again, constantly kneecapping Brees’ heroics and forcing the team into high-scoring shootouts it can’t always win. Last year they were No. 27 in total yards allowed, No. 31 in points allowed, and dead last in passing defense (273.8 yards allowed per game). The unit as a whole also ranked No. 30 in DVOA, which marks the third straight year the defense was 30th or worse in that category.

Salary cap hell was partly to blame for the lack of depth on defense. Safety Jairus Byrd was the biggest flop of New Orleans’ spending spree, signing a six-year deal worth up to $54 million in 2014, only to get cut this offseason. Other players like Brandon Browner and C.J. Spiller scored big free agent contracts, but none of them are on the team today. The Saints tried to buy talent and win now, but it hasn’t really gotten them anywhere.

Pass rush in particular was a problem for the Saints, who were No. 27 with just 27 sacks. Cameron Jordan is easily the team’s best defender and one of the rare bright spots on the line — he had another strong season with 7.5 sacks. But he didn’t have much help around him, with the exception of Nick Fairley, whose 2017 season is already over along with, possibly, his career.

The Saints took a one-year flier on Fairley last season, and he responded with 6.5 sacks and strong run defense. They rewarded his production with a four-year, $28 million extension in the spring. Unfortunately, Fairley missed OTAs and was diagnosed with a heart condition that could end his career early. On June 26, the Saints placed him on the non-football illness (NFI) list.

New Orleans didn’t make many moves to upgrade the pass rush. Perhaps the team is hoping for more from Sheldon Rankins, who was limited to nine games with a broken leg in his rookie year. But for the most part, it looks like the Saints will once again struggle to consistently pressure opposing quarterbacks.

If there’s good news for the defense, perhaps it’s that the unit is a bit younger than it was in previous years. Linebackers A.J. Klein and Manti Te’o provide some depth while still being young enough that they could be long-term starters if they pan out.

The Saints bolstered the secondary with No. 11 overall pick Marshon Lattimore, largely considered the best cornerback prospect in the draft. They also grabbed versatile safety Marcus Williams in the second round.

Delvin Breaux and P.J. Williams both had injury-shortened seasons, but if they come back healthy they should form a fine CB trio alongside Lattimore. Just having those men on the field instead of replacement-level backups will give this unit an upgrade.

There are some nice individual pieces, but it’s been years since the defense lived up to its on-paper talent, so let’s not put the cart in front of the horse. It’s time for defensive coordinator Dennis Allen to turn potential into actual results and to stop asking Brees to win every 41-38 game.

Brees’ contract expires after this season, though he’ll most likely be back for another go. He’s consistently restructured his deal in recent years, doing his part to relieve the Saints’ salary cap crunch and give them room to add pieces around him.

But after three straight 7-9 seasons, it’s clear this strategy hasn’t worked. The Saints whiffed on too many free-agent signings and haven’t done enough in drafts to make up for those mistakes. The result is a top-heavy roster that could easily fall apart if one or two key guys gets injured.

The Saints have enough pieces to make it back to the playoffs this year. If Brees keeps playing like Brees and the defense improves to even mediocre, they should be right there in the mix. But we’ve said that for several years now, and they’ve always found ways to underperform. Meanwhile, the rest of the NFC South keeps getting better — the Carolina Panthers earned a trip to the Super Bowl two seasons ago, and the Falcons did the same last season.

The Saints no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt until they show they’re starting to right the ship. Otherwise, they’re just wasting the twilight of Brees’ career.