BakoSaint

I think too much emphasis has been put on the effect of injuries on the Saints current season and not enough on the future. Particularly the injuries of Paulson Adebo and Chris Olave, which are both extremely career threatening / limiting injuries. Even without injuries the Saints were 2-0 against two very bad teams, and in the end it was unlikely that a mid-30's QB who never won a playoff game was going to bring a defense featuring mostly over-30 stars to the super bowl. Injuries this season may have derailed a wildcard opportunity and 'respect' but the impact of likely losing Adebo and Olave long term will be greater and change the direction of the franchise more.

Forget this season, I don't think anybody is doing justice to the reality that the Saints lost what were their two most valuable young players going into the season. Realistically, had the Saints decided to trade Olave and/or Adebo this offseason before their injuries, they were young players on rookie contracts who could have fetched 1st or 2nd round picks to rebuild the oline or trade up for the next franchise QB, or we could have kept them to assure our next QB had a viable #1/2 receiver and our next great pass rusher had a solid DB to give him time to get to the QB.

Miracles happen. People walk on water. But most likely, Adebo and Olave's careers are both ruined. Nobody would trade much for either now. Adebo was a corner who lacked a bit of speed and quickness but was very physical, and with a broken femur if he can ever stay healthy again, he will surely lose a step that he couldn't afford to lose. Olave was a great receiver, but he may retire, and if he doesn't he will always be one play away from retiring and seeing ghosts on the field every time he runs a route over the middle or in double coverage. These are two of the most devastating injuries possible. An ACL may cost a year but many players recover. Full productive recovery from a broken femur for a cornerback is unprecedented. Linebacker EJ Henderson broke his femur and managed a comeback, playing at a pro bowl level his first season with a titanium rod in his leg, but retired a year after his comeback season, and linebacker is a much different position than a corner who already struggled with speed and inconsistency. Meanwhile Olave is in Jahvid Best territory with the future of his career. The odds are, neither is ever a consistent producer again.

To put things in perspective, imagine where the Falcons franchise would be if both Drake London and AJ Terrell had suffered career changing injuries this year that would haunt them long into the future. Thats the reality of where we are, except if anything Olave and Adebo were better.

To me, these injuries make it even more necessary to rebuild. In some ways they make it easier (don't have to think about paying these players, hopefully) and in some ways they make it harder (no option to trade them for picks or gain comp picks). But they also pose a danger. As a cash strapped team, with minimal optimism, and doctors who will say anything because they know nothing, we could sign both to long term extensions as a 'hail mary' feel good story. We could sign both to long term deals at 70-80% of the value they might have gotten uninjured and claim we got a discount, when no other team would have given them 25%. Then if either one has some brief success in a comeback we could declare victory and brilliance, while bragging that if they are good one year removed from injury, they will be hall of fame championship great two years removed when fully recovered. Meanwhile the reality is that if they recover, their best year will probably be their first year back like it was for EJ Henderson and for Tua when he had a lucky year without a concussion.

But also, if we do rebuild, it could be better in the end that that we didn't pay a finesse receiver and a physical corner. In the long term we need to build along the trenches and find a championship QB not a pretty good 'ready to give it a shot in a wildcard game' QB well into his 30's. Olave and Adebo were going to end up being our two highest paid players besides Carr the way things were looking going into this season, and honestly to me those may be the type of players you build a good but not great team around. Both were always going to be limited in a way, and neither helped us in the trenches or at QB, and we were perhaps going to put 20-25% of our salary cap into them. Maybe its better that we don't, IF we move on and don't put 20-25% of our salary cap into our vets Jordan, Mathieu, Davis, Hill, and Kamara.

So when we make the decision in the offseason whether to rebuild or kick the can for one more year, remember, things are not the same as spring 2024. Things have changed a lot. We have lost what were our two most valuable young players on rookie contracts. Our vets will keep getting older, but Olave and Adebo likely won't have a prime. If thats not a sign, I don't know what is.

Halo

Agree with what you're saying. Mickey Loomis is trying to build a team by paying veterans large paydays which keeps them at key positions. The big problem is injury. When they go down due to injury, their backups are usually journeymean that are neither young nor good enough to hold the line at the position until the player returns.

Salary cap, player aquisition and personnel management is becoming quite the tricky business and gamble in the NFL. As demands for large salaries rise, teams are stuck with having to either let talent go or fund new, younger talent through the draft.

Mickey Loomis great at acquiring journeyman talent and crunching the cap. He is "hit or miss" at best with his draft sense, and more "miss" of late. Here is where the Saints struggle.

If we could improve our draft picking abilities, we would not have a need to sign talent when they come up for renewal or look for big payday. I watch the Patriots do this for years and manage to run some superbowls. Draft was not always what triggered success with the Patriots, but they had a sense of how and when to shuffle talent as needed.

Rugby Saint II

The Saints are doing pretty well with limited weapons.

BakoSaint

Which only proves we could do pretty well during a drastic rebuild. We've been breaking the bank for a bunch of has been names.

UK_WhoDat

In all honesty - that is true.

Sadly, much is self-inflicted