Da Boot Sports 7/23/2024 Courtesy of: Crescent City Sports By: Ken Trahan Tests are an examination of knowledge learned. Even after decades of being out of college, the nightmare of waking from a bad dream of not being prepared for the big test lingers.It is a recurring dream, even though it has lost its steam being far removed from those crazy days. When prepared, it was a great feeling to receive the test, see the questions and assertively write in the correct answers with confidence. Those who have the answers win while those who do not have some but not enough answers are mired in the middle of the pack. Those with minimal correct answers will fail. The 2024 New Orleans Saints should be a competitive entity. Excitement abounds with a revamped coaching staff, including a pair of dynamic coordinators and new guidance for a very young, unproven offense line as training camp opens in Irvine, California. Based on the final month of last season when in 35 days the Saints averaged 28.8 points over six games, New Orleans earned four victories. Derek Carr shined, looking the part of the quarterback the Saints hoped they were getting when he was signed. Perhaps it was a matter of settling into the role with a new organization. Maybe it was Carr finally being healthy. The offensive line play was better. Juwan Johnson got healthy and became a factor while rookie A.T. Perry made plays. Can that momentum carry over to 2024? When last we saw Carr, he completed 22-of-28 passes for 264 yards and four touchdowns while putting up 48 points. He endured enormous criticism, some of which was deserved but much of is was unfair. Carr was never and is never going to be Drew Brees. He is better than Andy Dalton and Jameis Winston but did not perform markedly better in 2023. That is a must in 2024. Will Carr be better in a new offense? The expectation is he will, providing Johnson gets healthy. There is speed and size at wide receiver. Taysom Hill is still a threat and you have to believe Alvin Kamara will get his money and that Kendre Miller will be healthier. Will Kamara strike a new deal with the Saints? While his play declined a bit last year and he is eight years in the league now, Kamara remains a good back and the Saints need him to be successful. Here is betting that the deal gets done. Kamara has shown up in Irvine, California, an indication that an agreement could come soon. Will the young offensive line be good enough? It was not a good unit in 2023 and changes were made. The changes were an improvement but no one would assert that it was a good unit by season’s end. Can it be better? The Saints are counting on three young, unproven players in tackles Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning and guard Nick Saldiveri. If all three come through, the Saints will have a dynamic young unit for several years to come with Erik McCoy and Cesar Ruiz still young. If two of the three come through, the Saints will be better overall. If only one pans out, it will be a real struggle, a genuine disappointment. Carr was not healthy a year ago because he was hit too much. On occasion, he held the ball too long but much of the time, he was simply getting hit too much due to below average protection. Couple that with the lack of a traditional run game and you have a bad equation. The run game was primarily Hill in the RPO game and straight keepers lining up at quarterback. Will Chris Olave go from being a good wide receiver to a top shelf NFL performer? The ability is there and the Saints need an elite player on the outside. Rashid Shaheed is there to take the top off opposing defenses. Perry figures to improve in year two and Cedrick Wilson is a solid pickup. Bub Means cannot be ignored. Defensively, will Chase Young be healthy enough by the preseason or by the start of the season to make a difference for a pass rush that was simply not good enough a year ago? The Saints believe he will, which is why they signed him to begin with. Information about Young has been on the quiet side. We simply have to wait to see if the surgery was successful. Young is motivated, in a contract year, to show he can be an elite pass rusher. Willie Gay will add athleticism and speed to the second level, where Demario Davis has been ageless. Let’s hope that continues. Pete Werner has been solid but the Saints are counting on him to be better than solid this coming season. Will Peyton Turner ever prove that he is an NFL player? Considering the vast investment made by the Saints in Turner, it is time for him to show something. First, he has to get on the field and that has been a challenge. Will Isaiah Foskey become a factor? The 2023 season did not tell us much about the second-round pick. If either he or Turner emerges, the defensive end position will look quite better, despite the injury to Tanoh Kpassagnon. Will Jordan Howden take a step forward and earn a starting job in year two? Howden was good as a rookie, a welcome surprise as an undrafted player. Howden played in all 16 games with seven starts at safety. Howden recorded 43 tackles, including a sack and forced a fumble. He could line up in the deep with Tyrann Mathieu. Will Marshon Lattimore return to elite form? That is a good question. At this point, you are hoping, perhaps praying that Lattimore is not the latest version of Michael Thomas, a once great player who is chronically injured, not available and whose skills have declined. After making the Pro Bowl in four of his first five seasons, Lattimore has played in just 17 games the last two seasons, missing the same number of games. What role will Kool-Aid McKinstry play? Fortunately, if healthy, there is not a ton of pressure for McKinstry to make an immediate impact, though his physical skills give him the potential to do so. With Lattimore, Paulson Adebo and Alontae Taylor, the Saints can take solace in three proven corners. This is one of the team’s strongest positions, if not the strongest. Will the kicking game be better? With regard to the return game, Shaheed gives the Saints a real advantage in this aspect, particularly with the new kickoff return rules which special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi lobbied hard for. The kickers are a different story. Lou Hedley was not good enough. Looking at his 2023 season, keep in mind that there are 32 NFL teams. Pro Football Focus had him ranked as the 36th best punter in the NFL. His 4.04 hang time average was 32nd in the league. Hedley averaged 43 yards per punt on 75 punts. That was 37th in the league. The only bright spot was Hedley landing 31 punts inside the 20-yard-line, which was fifth in the league. Rookie Matthew Hayball of Vanderbilt will challenge Hedley for the job in training camp and the preseason. Hayball was a second-team All-American last season, averaging 47.6 yards per punt. Blake Gillikin, whom the Saints cut to keep Hedley, averaged 50.6 yards per punt on 51 efforts last season and had 11 punts downed inside the 20-yard line. Then, there is Thomas Morstead, whom the Saints released to keep Gillikin, which lasted two years. Morstead is still punting and he is good. Morstead led the NFL with 99 punts and in punt yards with 4,831, averaging 48.8 yards per punt with 36 punts downed inside the 20-yard-line. Similarly, the Saints let Wil Lutz, a proven kicker when healthy, go and Sean Payton quickly picked him up in Denver. New Orleans went with rookie Blake Grupe. Grupe converted 81.1 percent of his field goal attempts, 26th in the NFL. Grupe was a perfect 40-for-40 on extra points and finished with an 83.5 percent touchback rate. His crucial miss against Green Bay with less than two minutes to go, a kick that could have won the NFC South for New Orleans, was a season-defining moment in retrospect. He had other key misses as well and must be better. With the Broncos, Lutz converted 88.2 percent of his field goal attempts. He was 29-of-31 on extra point attempts and had an 87.7 percent touchback rate. Charlie Smyth will get a look in training camp but the Saints like Grupe, who is expected to have the job again this season. In short, Grupe simply needs to take the next step and improve. Finally, is Dennis Allen the right man for the job? Can he prove that he is a solid NFL head coach? That may be the biggest question. A proven, excellent coordinator, Allen now has his quarterback, many of his own players and virtually all his own coaches, including two new coordinators. If it is going to happen, this is the year. If it is not this year, there is no guarantee Allen will get a fourth opportunity. Given what he inherited from a talent perspective and with continuing cap issues, aging stars and no Drew Brees, Allen has not been bad but he simply has not been good enough to inspire long-term confidence, to this point. In review, the offensive line must be better, Carr must be more consistent, the kicking game must improve significantly and the coach must earn his keep. Those are primary answers to the questions. Will the Saints have the correct answers? We are about to start finding out. John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior) *John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. A huge Thank You to Cardio Health Solutions owned by Ron Sancho for sponsoring and believing in our publication! 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