SmashMouth

Few Saints fans are interested in considering what the team will look like when quarterback Drew Brees finally does retire from the game, but head coach Sean Payton says it’s a reality that he thinks of frequently.

The decision of what to do was pushed off a little bit further into the future after Brees set an NFL record for passing efficiency and helped propel the Saints back into contention as they won the division and came within 10 seconds of playing for the NFC championship behind the league’s No. 2 offense.



Brees then signed a deal to stay in New Orleans for the next two years, delaying the Saints’ decision back again, but Payton did give something of a hint as to what Brees’ successor will be like.

Whoever it’ll be, he’ll likely look nothing like his predecessor.

“There’s not going to be another Drew Brees clone that we draft,” Payton said.

Whoever will succeed Brees, and whenever he does, Payton explained that it will be his job as a coach to orchestrate the team’s offense around the new player’s skill set, and not try to wedge him into a pre-existing system.

The most recent example of the Saints accommodating a player’s unique attributes and adapting to him was running back Alvin Kamara. The former Tennessee product came equipped with a versatile range of skills─rushing between the tackles, catching passes from the backfield, playing as a wide receiver─and the team sought to integrate that range into their game plans, rather than making him conform to a pre-designed framework.

The result was a record-breaking year that resulted in his winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year.

But how would that approach work with a quarterback?

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