WhoDat!656

NEW ORLEANS – The NFL's final four – Seattle, New England, Green Bay and Indianapolis – highlight one incontrovertible reality: the New Orleans Saints have fallen from among the league's upper echelon.

I arrived at that conclusion long before this past weekend's divisional playoffs – or for that matter, the previous week's Wild Card round.

Watching the Saints stumble, bumble and even fumble (see the Week 1 and 16 matchups with Atlanta) their way to a 7-9 finish was all the evidence needed. The postseason has merely served to drive the point home.

Can the Saints bounce back? Of course. Are they close? Well, that's a question whose answer is far less obvious and, if answered properly, deserves more than a few words.

Therefore, before I delve into that one (and don't worry, I will), I'll first take a position-by-position look back at the good and bad of 2013, as well as what's needed moving forward.

Saints offseason crystal ball: quarterbacks

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

|Mitch|

I agree, but not much of the same reason as the author... My thinking is that we should shore up the O-Line first before we worry about Drew's successor

Danno

Yep, shoring up the O-line helps any and every QB. Drew needs interior protection more so than most. OG's and OC's aren't nearly as expensive as OT's.

We don't need to draft a successor yet, and probably not even next year.

You don't need 3 years to groom QB's today. Thats a myth. Most of the best QB's today started in year 1 or year 2.

Beastmode

If we would have let some of our weapons go and concentrated on the OL we would not be having this discussion IMO. Jimmy is a great TE but not worth it. There was more value in protecting Brees and getting him role players. Watching the Pats and Manning this season...just seems like they have forever to sit back there for the most part. Brees has almost no time and his targets main targets have dropped a lot of balls this year. Two of his main targets are in the top 15 in drops.

dizzle88

Ryan Griffin

Mr.Riaton

Well said. That's why I don't understand the desire of some for another WR. I like what I saw in what we have and that's considering Brees not at his best due to what I believe is O line not giving him enough time. Get Brees comfortable again and watch our receiver corps explode. I like Graham and I don't hate that the Saints gave him that contract,but before he even got it,I was ok with the team letting him go in hopes that the money would have been spent upgrading the O line. I think Hill and Watson would have been fine.

Danno

Give Brees another 2 seconds in the pocket and our receivers will look world class.

NOLA54

This is a hot topic because we see the younger QBs making a difference in the playoffs. If we could just pause the conversation about finding Drew's replacement and concentrate on shoring up the OL & the defense and put everything in to winning another championship in the next 2 years, I believe we will be o.k. for the short term.

ScottF

I think we gave him every opportunity, but he still couldn't beat out McCown. And 31 other teams looked and passed.
He is more of Palko than a Delhomme

ScottF

exactly- score a top ten center and Brees' replacement will be Brees for the next 3 seasons