The final 53 man roster is in and the results are not too surprising this year. About what was expected on offense and a surprise name on defense. Let us break it down by position starting on offense. (QB) - 3 Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler, Zach Wilson The Saints are rolling with Shough, Rattler, and Wilson to start the regular season. Shough of course the starting quarterback but after him there was certainly some potential for surprise given the lackluster performance by Rattler and Wilson this offseason. Sounds like the Saints were exploring outside options at backup quarterback so look for that interest to continue for the near future. (RB) - 4 Travis Etienne Jr, Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller, Audric Estime Four running backs is typically unusual but given the health of the running backs on the roster currently carrying four makes total sense. Kamara is banged up currently and Miller has obvious talent but has not been able to show the ability to stay healthy. Audric Estime capitalized on his opportunity given the uncertainty of health in the room. (WR) - 5 Chris Olave, DeVaughn Vele, Bryce Lance, Barion Brown, Kevin Austin Jr Even with the injury to Jordyn Tyson the Saints are feeling very satisfied with this wide receiver room. Lance and Brown especially have shown this offseason and training camp they will be able to contribute when their number is called which could certainly be sooner than later. (TE) - 4 Juwan Johnson, Noah Fant, Oscar Delp, Treyton Welch Four tight ends is a little surprising but because of a hamstring issue with Delp Welch latches on with the team. Welch has shown to be a capable back up tight end and can play special teams so his presence will help solidify the back of the depth chart while Delp gets healthy. (OL) - 8 Kelvin Banks Jr, David Edwards, Eric McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Taliese Fuaga, Asim Richards, Jeremiah Wright, William Sherman No real surprises here in the offensive live room as the Saints feel good about the potential and depth of this group. Of the group Jeremiah Wright showed some real potential in the preseason to maybe push for a starting role before too long should Cesar Ruiz not step up his level of play. (iDL) - 6 Davon Godchaux, Christen Miller, Vernon Broughton, Nathan Shepard, John Ridgeway III, Khristian Boyd There was room for a surprise here with the injury to Bresee early on in training camp however the names in this room have quite a bit to prove. The D-line group consists of aging veterans and unproven youngsters so this will be a position on the team to monitor this season with quite a few question marks moving forward. (Edge) - 6 Chase Young, Carl Granderson, Cameron Jordan, Anfernee Jennings, Chris Rumph, Tyree Wilson As expected here, the only question of this group in the offseason was whether Cameron Jordan would return or not. Chase Young is poised to take over the top pass rushing mantle from Jordan and become the cornerstone piece on defense for the Saints looking ahead. Behind him are reliable veterans who know their role and what is expected of them. (LB) - 4 Kaden Ellis, Pete Werner, Danny Stutsman, Isaiah Stallbird This will be an interesting group to watch this after the departure of Demario Davis this offseason. Davis’ presence has kept quite a few young, talented linebackers from getting their opportunity on the field but opportunity is plentiful with his absence combined with the level of play from Pete Werner last season. Kaden Ellis looks to make an impact in his return to the Saints as a versatile piece for Brandon Staley to deploy in different spots on defense. (CB) - 4 Kool Aid-McKinstry, Quincy Riley, Martin Emerson Jr, Jayden Price Four corners is an interesting choice not usually made by many teams. The back end depth at corner was dealt some major injuries throughout camp and preseason so this could be a position where the Saints try to fortify on the back end sooner than later. Overall though this is quite the young group of corner who will have their work cut out for them this season on the back end. Croner felt like a position the Saints wished they were able to make a bigger investment in this offseason but ultimately were not able to. (DB) - 6 Justin Reid, Julian Blackmon, Jonas Sanker, Jordan Howden, Lorenzo Styles Jr, Mike Reid Here comes the biggest surprise of the list, Mike Reid. Reid's addition to the 53 man roster felt purely about the ability he showed while playing special teams this summer so kudos to him for earning a spot. The defensive back room as a whole is a good mixture between talented veterans and young players with upside most notably Jonas Sanker after having an impressive rookie season. Sanker will be the one to watch from this group as his role changes to play more in the slot. (Specialists) - 3 Ryan Wright, Daniel Carlson, Zach Wood The surprise here was Carlson who was given a week to earn the kicking job and promptly did so in the last preseason game against the Cowboys. Both Carlson and Wright are looking to finally answer the long time woes the Saints have had at both the kicker and punter positions. For the Saints sake I hope they do as they would deeply benefit from some stability in those positions. The main takeaway from me is the majority of 53 feels written in stone while there are some positions where there will probably be more changes in the coming weeks. The Saints came out of the preseason in a good spot and will look to capitalize in Week 1 when they travel to Detroit to take on the Lions.

Well that was a much more enjoyable watch then last week was it not? The offense was able to move the ball down the field and get the ball in the end zone. The defense was able to hold the Cowboys to long field goals in the first half and special teams did not have any blemishes. Overall quite a successful team performance resulting in the team’s first victory of the preseason. Even if the win does not mean anything towards the regular season standings, being able to start game planning for Week 1 against the Lions with some momentum from a win is better than the alternative. Let’s break down the victory against the Cowboys as we begin to look towards Week 1. First I want to start off by talking about the offense. What a bounce back performance they had today against the Cowboys. Give credit to the offensive line as they were able to create the running lanes needed for the running backs to take full advantage of today. The running back depth chart just might seemingly be dictated by health more so than talent for the Saints this year. Kendre Miller clearly has always had the talent to be an impactful running back in the NFL but health has been his achilles heel thus far in his career but as of right now I believe he will have a spot on the 53 man roster. After him though I will be curious as to what the Saints do with Audric Estime as he has been productive throughout his short tenure with the team. I believe the Saints will find a spot on the 53 man roster for him as he would surely be snatched up by another team if the Saints did not make room for him. At the beginning of the preseason I was curious as to how the depth of the wide receiver room would shake out given all the draft capital the Saints had invested in this past draft. Jordyn Tyson will surely make quite the impact when he recovers from his injury but I wanted to see if the Day 3 wide receivers in Bryce Lance and Barion Brown would be able to flash enough for them to show they can be legitimate positional depth for the Saints. Mission accomplished. Both Lance and Brown have flashed their talent all summer where I feel very good about the wide receiver room which is quite the turnaround considering the status of the room at the end of last season. I look forward to seeing what the rookies can do on the Sundays ahead. The one major thing on offense I am still unsure on is the status of QB2 behind Tyler Shough. Spencer Rattler did what he needed to do today but will that be enough to keep the Saints from bringing in someone from outside the building? I could make a case for either scenario so it will be interesting to see what the Saints do there as the backup quarterback is an important spot to have someone capable there. As not having a capable backup will sink a promising season before you blink. On defense you get the outing you needed to see in the first half. A bend but not break effort resulting in the Cowboys being forced to kick long field goals. The defense was able to keep Joe Milton in check who has been starting to make quite the reputation for himself with good preseason showings in his short career thus far. There was complimentary football being played so the defense was not out in the field for extended periods of time to where you could see them starting to get worn down. The second half however was a bit of a different story. In the second half the Cowboys were able to quickly move the ball down the field thanks to veteran Sam Howell who just shredded the secondary. The beauty of preseason as a fan is when you watch the other team doing so well late in the game you get to fall back on the fact most of these players will have either very limited roles or not even be on the team come Week 1. So although I would have liked to see the defense close out the game better in the fourth quarter they did what they needed in order to secure the victory. I’ll be curious to see if there will be many roster surprises on the defensive side of the ball come cut down day. Last but not least is special teams where there was not much left to interpret there. Daniel Carlson appears to be the new kicker heading into Week 1 and there were not any special teams blunders or impact plays in the game today. Overall just a solid outing from the special teams unit today where hopefully some guys earned some jobs in the league with what they put on tape this preseason. That puts a wrap on the preseason. We’ll see what cut down day has in store for the Saints as they typically have a surprise name or two end up on the 53 man roster. But once the 53 man roster settles all eyes will be ahead looking towards Week 1 against the Detroit Lions. Practice time is over, from here on out, it’s meaningful football again.

The Preseason finale is upon us. The Saints will look to notch their first win against the Cowboys which could have some carryover frustration from how their joint practice went last week. Usually the preseason finale does not have much significance as the starters do not typically play and there are only a select few roster spots still up for the taking. This year the preseason finale will be a little bit more than that. The Saints do not have a clear answer at backup quarterback coming into this game and it would be hard to imagine one single game could be enough to sway this opinion in a positive direction. The running back battle behind Etienne and Kamara appears to be ending in an unexciting fashion with Kendre Miller appearing as the favorite barring something unforseen happening. But if either of those two want to stand out in the game they will be relying on the offensive line to make some holes for them in the run game which they struggled to do against the Rams. So the offensive line will look to have a bounce back game to spearhead the offense to score some points this week. The one other position I will be curious about is tight end with the recent injuries to Delp and Matavao. There could be an opportunity there for someone to land a spot on the roster or role on the team this season given the health at the position currently. Moving on to the kicker battle where unfortunately for Smyth and Brown they both lost as the Saints signed Tucker Carlson to solidify the position. Smyth and Brown will now try to aim to be given an opportunity to kick for another team this season. However the special teams play during the game could be the deciding factor for a few players with the last few roster spots up for grabs fighting for the remaining roster and practice squad spots. On defense the Saints will look to have a bounce back type of performance where they struggled to stop the Rams in any shape or form last week. Performing better on defense will start up front with the defensive line who will be tasked with doing a better job of controlling the line of scrimmage. After them I will be looking at the secondary who performed well against the Jaguars but took a step back after their performance against the Rams. This week will hopefully show whether the depth in the secondary will be capable or not moving forward. Linebacker appears to be in a great position where the Saints felt good enough to trade from to help address the running back depth. Linebacker is the one spot on the team which has felt strong for a long time and this year proves to be no different even with the departure of Demario Davis. Overall I would say the preseason has been about as expected for the Saints. You would like to win these games for the sake of winning but ultimately winning or losing in the preseason does not matter. The starters have not played much this preseason so you cannot read much into how they look in these games compared to how they will look in Week 1. But after this game against the Cowboys, meaningful football games will be played and judged. We are almost there folks, enjoy this last appetizer against the Cowboys.

Well whatever that performance was the Saints sure hope they don’t have again for a long time. It was the type of game where it felt like they couldn’t really manage to do much of the little things right. Sure they had a couple nice moments here and there like Rattlers 25 yard throw to Moreno-Cooper but this game was terrible all around. No other way to put it. Let’s look at some of the key points I was looking for in the game. The backup quarterback battle just got even murkier. After Zach Wilson shined in the first preseason game but unfortunately had a complete 180 of a performance against the Rams. I don’t think Wilson had much help around him today but he did not do enough to have us overlook the circumstances. Rattler was watching this from the sidelines and knew his turn was coming to make up ground in the backup battle. His first drive ended in a 100 yard pick six to completely bury the Saints on the scoreboard. Once you’re down 27 points in the third quarter barring a miracle comeback there’s not much positive merit in individual performance for the rest of the game. Following up the QB battle was the pecking order battle in the receiver room. But because of how the offense performed today we got no answers there. We’ll have to wait till next week against the cowboys to see if we get any clear answers before the rosters are trimmed down. I wanted to keep an eye out for the RB3 battle in this game and unfortunately no one stood out in a positive fashion in this game. Ty Chandler was someone who had a big moment in the last game with a long kickoff return but all that positive momentum he created came to screeching halt. Ty had a lackluster day running the ball and had a brutal fumble that was recovered by the Rams while in the red zone. Just can’t have those two things happen and expect to win a job with so little opportunity left. I came away impressed with the corner depth after the Jaguars game last week and was looking forward to see how’d they look against better competition from the Rams. I won’t single out any one player specifically here but ultimately the defense as a whole just really had no answers for the Rams today. The Rams were moving the ball at will today, didn’t matter if it was on the ground or in the air. The Rams could do whatever they wanted and there should be some concern even if it’s just a preseason game after a performance like that. Lastly was my interest in the kicking battle given Smyth’s uneven track record. Unfortunately the Saints did not give the kickers much if any real work today. Brown got the only chance of the day to kick a FG at the end of the game and missed a 39 yarder. If this keeps up the Saints might have to go in a whole other direction at the kicker position before the regular season starts. I won’t give the Saints an excuse for a poor performance like this. Preseason or not failing to execute at the level they did today is unacceptable and will have to be a lot different in the last preseason game if they want to bring some positive momentum into the regular season. Moving forward though as it’s been noted by others the Saints looked tired today. I don’t believe we will see the Saints schedule two joint practices between two preseason game over a ten day span again. Let’s hope for a more competitive game next week for the preseason finale against the Cowboys.

The second preseason game is shaping up to be quite the interesting one as there is numerous position battles being waged. These position battles are being fought over depth chart positioning or for the couple of roster spots up for grabs. Here is what I am looking out for in the preseason matchup against the Rams. The battle to be the backup quarterback behind Shough. Entering training camp I didn’t see this becoming a legitimate battle but give credit to Zach Wilson for taking advantage of his opportunities while Spencer Rattler has not done enough to cement himself as the backup thus far. Zach Wilson made some good reads and throws in the previous game showing he can move the offense down the field into scoring position. Moving the offense down the field was something Spencer Rattler was not able to do and will need to in this game if he wants to keep this a competition heading into the final preseason game against the Cowboys. This battle could come down to the wire so buckle up over these next two games. Up next I am keeping an eye on is the WR depth chart battle. With Tyson injured there is a good chance another roster spot opened up for another wide receiver to make the roster. But not only that because of the injury there is increased opportunity for these young wide receiver to make a bigger impact early on in their careers than expected. I’ll be looking to see if they can take advantage of that or if the Saints might have to add a veteran to the mix to bring in some experience. Speaking of experience, it appears as though the experience Charlie Smyth got last year has not translated into consistent results quite yet which leaves the door open Tanner Brown to potentially win the kicking job should Smyth continue to miss on his opportunities. This is a position where it’s been in a flux since Will Lutz was moved the team would greatly benefit from some consistency and reliability after not having for a couple years. However, the experience Martin Emerson Jr and Jayden Price have showed up in a big way in the Jaguars game. I’m looking to see if they can make the same kind of impact in this game as they did in the last because if so I think the Saints would feel a lot better about the cornerback position heading into the season as they probably did heading into training camp. Lastly with the news of Alvin Kamara being out for a few weeks with an injury of his own I’d like to see if any of the other running backs on the roster can standout and make a case for themselves to be RB3. Last week Ty Chandler had the kickoff return which set up Audric Estime for the touchdown so I give them the lead on trying to secure a roster spot as of right now. But there is still time for someone else to make a case over these next two games to widen the competition. Looking at the game in general I’m pretty excited to see how the team looks versus the Rams. The Rams have been a Super Bowl contender for a while and will prove to be a good litmus test for the Saints to see where they are in their preparation for the regular season. It’s one thing to look good against the Jaguars but another if they look good against the Rams.