New Orleans Saints

New Orleans Saints quarterback Taysom Hill said he's "excited" about the opportunity to compete for the team's starting job, though he understands the difficulty of filling a void left by a future Hall of Famer like Drew Brees.

Hill discussed his outlook for the upcoming season with Rod Walker of the New Orleans Advocate on Monday:

I think the thing that I realize first and foremost is there is no replacing a Drew Brees. He's one of the greatest to ever do it. But I think as I got ready to enter the NFL, my goal and my mindset was to just do everything I can to have an opportunity to be a guy. Because there are only 32 starters in the NFL. So as I look forward into this year and training camp and OTAs and the season, I'm really just excited about having that opportunity. That has been the goal and the mindset since I was a rookie in 2017 first entering the NFL. So it's definitely something that I'm not taking lightly and I'm going to give it everything I've got.

Hill will compete with Jameis Winston for the top spot on the quarterback depth chart throughout training camp and the preseason.

When Brees, who retired in March, was injured last season, the Saints handed the keys of the offense to Hill on a full-time basis for the first time in his four-year career.

The 30-year-old BYU product responded well, completing 71.9 percent of his throws for 834 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions across four starts. He added 209 rushing yards and four scores on the ground.

Hill, who said he's a "quarterback at heart" despite his main usage as a multifaceted offensive weapon while Brees was under center, told Walker he's focused more on personal improvement than a competition with Winston:

Obviously there are individual goals and goals at the high end. But there has been so much conversation about competition, competition and all this, but at the end of the day for me, I have some things that I feel like will help me be as good as I possibly can. To me that has always been my goal and my competition. So as a quarterback, it's always centered around decision-making, timing, accuracy. At the end of the day, I'm constantly competing with myself to be as good of a player as I possibly can be. That competition never ends. Whether it's on the football [field] or whether it's in life, I feel like I'm always competing with myself to be as good of a person and as good of a player as I possibly can.

While Hill has limited experience as a starting quarterback, Winston is basically the antithesis of Brees, one of the most accurate throwers in NFL history. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter is a high-risk, high-reward player who threw 33 touchdowns and 30 picks for the Bucs in 2019.

That may give Hill the inside track on the starting job if he can prove effective in protecting the football throughout the preseason.

It feels like a true toss-up competition heading into training camp, though.

The New Orleans Saints had a mass exodus this offseason.

Most notably, Drew Brees retired, paving the way for Taysom Hill and Jameis Winston to compete for the starting job under center. But he wasn't the only one who left the franchise heading into 2021. 

The Saints saw 13 key players move on. Among them are Emmanuel Sanders, who was released after tacking on 726 yards and five touchdowns on 61 receptions, and Janoris Jenkins, who had 55 tackles in 2020. 

Incoming is defensive end Payton Turner, who was drafted with the No. 28 pick out of Houston, to headline a class of six picks.

Here's what the Saints will have to face as they move forward into a new era of New Orleans football: 

Saints 2021 Schedule

Analysis

According to the NFL's official ratings, the Saints have it pretty good in 2021.

The team has the sixth-easiest schedule in the NFL, with opponents posting a .471 winning percentage last season. Only five opponents had winning records in 2021—of course, they'll see the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice by virtue of playing together in the NFC South, while they'll get other divisional champions in the Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers. 

The AFC East games have the potential to shake things up weather-wise, as the Saints will head to New England and New York (for the Jets, thankfully—the Bills come to Louisiana). They also could run into weather trouble against the Seattle Seahawks and the Philadelphia Eagles. 

The weather report could determine the outcome on the road, but the Saints will get a second chance when they play three of their most difficult opponents at home. In addition to the Bills, the Packers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will travel to the Superdome. 

Key Matchups

The Saints didn't get the easiest draw when it came to the inter-conference matchups, with the AFC East tabbed as their competitors in 2021.

The Bills are poised for another strong year, while the Miami Dolphins should also be a threat since they've settled their quarterback situation, committing to Tua Tagovailoa. As for the other teams in that division, it's a toss-up.

The Patriots committed to Cam Newton but significantly bulked up the offense around him, giving him an opportunity to finish better than the 7-9 campaign he helped the team to last season, while the Jets moved on from Sam Darnold and elected to go with Brigham Young quarterback Zach Wilson at No. 2 overall. 

Neither of those games can be considered automatic wins. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have won the Super Bowl, but the Saints had the edge in both of their regular-season meetings in 2020. Though the Bucs are returning all 22 Super Bowl starters in 2021—the first reigning champion to do so since 1977—the Saints are in position to make that a competitive game yet again, especially with conference standings on the line.

Two of the marquee teams in the NFC are reportedly going to square off late in the 2021 regular season. 

Per B/R's Master Tesfatsion, the New Orleans Saints will host the Dallas Cowboys at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in Week 13 on Thursday Night Football. 

Tesfatsion previously reported that the Thanksgiving slate of games will feature the Cowboys hosting the Las Vegas Raiders and Saints welcoming the Buffalo Bills to New Orleans. 

By scheduling the Saints-Cowboys on Nov. 18, both teams will have a full week to prepare for their Thanksgiving matchups. 

New Orleans and Dallas are two of the most enigmatic teams in the NFL right now. The Saints still have a deep roster overall, but what is the offense going to look like with either Taysom Hill or Jameis Winston replacing Drew Brees at quarterback?

The Saints have won the NFC South in each of the past four seasons. 

The Cowboys should have the best quarterback in the NFC East if Dak Prescott returns from his ankle injury at full strength. 

Dallas will be hoping the addition of rookies Micah Parsons and Kelvin Joseph, as well as the signings of Keanu Neal and Tarell Basham, can improve a defense that allowed the fifth-most points in the NFL last year. 

Second-year head coach Mike McCarthy will attempt to lead the Cowboys into the playoffs for the first time since 2018. 

New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan donated $120,000 to fund anti-racism training for police officers in the city, according to Amie Just and Ramon Antonio Vargas of NOLA.com.

Jordan said he was inspired to get involved while he was watching demonstrations unfold in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who was murdered by Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer. The 31-year-old wanted to show his four children—all of whom were born in New Orleans—that he helped make a difference.

"I wanted to do something that makes them proud," Jordan said, per Just and Vargas. "This is not a solution, this is not a completion ... [but] we have a chance to create a positive impact in this way."

The money will fund training from Crescent City Corps for 80 officers over a two-year span. Classes of roughly 20 officers will learn about racial equity, the effects of trauma and leadership development while soliciting input from community organizations. There will be four sessions of the program. 

Those who complete the program will earn a certificate in innovative policing from Loyola University New Orleans.

In 2019, 10 officers in the New Orleans Police Department went through the training. Crescent City Corps chief executive director Brent Godfrey said those officers "changed the way they thought of themselves and the city" by going through the program. 

Per Just and Vargas, the New Orleans Police Department has yet to become fully compliant with a federal consent decree adopted in 2012 after "a series of unjustified police killings that disproportionately affected racial minorities both before and after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005." Part of the decree required the department to adopt use-of-force restrictions and transparency mandates.

Through the God Iz Love Foundation he founded with his wife, Nikki, Jordan has previously contributed to education, literacy, anti-bullying and fitness efforts in the city where he has played all 10 seasons of his NFL career. 

Longtime New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees knew the 2020 season would be his last, and retirement was something he'd started to consider "probably two, three years ago."

Brees told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on PFT PM that he got a "big kick" out of the speculation he was preparing to continue his career after his trainer, Todd Durkin, posted a short video of him working out in February without any context:

“He posted that and he texted me, 'Watch what this stirs up.' It was pretty funny. I knew I was retiring. It was something I've been thinking about at this stage in your career. I think it's — you really don't know what that feeling's going to be like, right? You love the game, it's been such a big part of your life for so long. You know you can play at a high level still and you're obviously trying to achieve a goal which is to go win another championship. At the same time, I think you also recognize the balance of life and the fact that, listen, I've got four kids that are not so small anymore.”

Brees played at a high level in recent years, including 24 touchdowns and six interceptions across 12 games in 2020, but injuries became a bigger factor. He missed five contests in 2019 with a thumb injury and four last season with broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

The two-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year told Florio the thoughts about his future starting creeping in ahead of the 2017 season. He set out to enjoy his final years by making sure he soaked in the environment around him more than he'd done at the peak of his career:

"I'm going to pour everything I can into it. I'm also going to take the extra time that maybe I haven't in the past to just enjoy the little things. Like enjoy the locker room a little more. Maybe when I would've gone and done something else, I'm going to stay in the locker room and play a ping pong game with some of the guys and build a camaraderie. I'm going to enjoy the plane rides home a little bit more. I'm going to do all those things that maybe are a little bit different than what I normally would've done just to soak it all in. Just to enjoy it."

Brees guided the Saints to the playoffs in each of his final four seasons, including a trip to the NFC Championship Game in 2018, but they could never get back to the Super Bowl after winning it in 2009. That didn't stop the quarterback from enjoying the end of his playing career:

"I had more fun playing football than I ever had in my career those last couple years. We had a great team. We had a great nucleus. We had great leadership. That was a huge part of that. It was that one-year approach. It really was. I would say going into even '19 season it was like, 'Alright this may be it.' When I decided to come back in '20, I knew that was it."

The 42-year-old Dallas native told Florio the decision to walk away became easier with the offer from NBC Sports to work on its NFL and college football coverage while still having far more family time:

"I think the opportunity to work with NBC and be involved with both the college and the NFL game still fuels that passion for the game and that love for the game and just redirected in a different way. At the same time, it gives me the time with my family that I want and desire. To be as big a part of their lives as I can, especially with sports. All my boys love to play sports just like dad did when he was growing up. It's probably one of my greatest joys in life is to watch my kids play ball. When you are committed to being an NFL quarterback, that consumes you. ... That's the balance. At some point, that becomes the chapter in the past and you look forward to the chapter in the future which for me is so much centered around my family."

Brees, who announced his retirement in March, is a lock for Hall of Fame induction following a 20-year career that featured 13 Pro Bowl selections, the most passing yards in NFL history (80,358) and numerous other accolades and records.

Meanwhile, the Saints will move forward with a competition between Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill to fill the void left by perhaps the most accurate passer to ever step on a football field.

The New Orleans Saints were aggressive in their attempts to trade up in the 2021 NFL draft, but head coach Sean Payton said they did not find receptive takers.

Payton appeared on the Rich Eisen Show and said the team tried to trade up for Jaycee Horn and Patrick Surtain II. 

“It was pretty simple. There were a couple players that we’d move up for, but for us we have a ‘must’ at corner,” Payton said Tuesday. “So we had two corners graded—both Horn and Surtain—with real high grades. And very quickly, early in the week, it’s pretty common for teams to say, ‘Hey, we have an interest.’ Everyone’s basically open for business.

“But ultimately, there wasn’t a team wanting to move out of the first 10 picks. And so, I think that lasted all of a half an hour maybe, the morning of reaching out to these teams. And the cost would’ve been, if we found a trade partner, too high. So at that point, our feeling was, it’s going to come to us at [No.] 28 so let’s make sure we have our cloud of players ready. And that’s exactly what happened.”

Horn was drafted No. 8 overall to the Carolina Panthers, and Surtain went a pick later to the Denver Broncos. It's likely Carolina and Denver were among the teams unreceptive to New Orleans because they wanted the cornerbacks for themselves. 

With the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins focused on wide receiver and the Detroit Lions on upgrading their offensive line, it's not hard to see why the Saints struggled finding a trade partner.

Of course, this was not the only time in Round 1 the Saints tried making a move. Michael Lombardi of The Athletic reported the Saints tried to position themselves to move up to draft Mac Jones as well, but New Orleans was thwarted when the New England Patriots took him at No. 15.