Saints Insider

Our Saints Insiders are back after New Orleans' first loss of the season, a 15-12 setback to the Philadelphia Eagles. Beat writers Luke Johnson and Matthew Paras and columnists Jeff Duncan and Rod Walker break down: • The loss of Erik McCoy and how much it costs the Saints going forward • What the Saints will do to replace McCoy • Cam Jordan's reduced snap count • Was the Eagles loss an aberration...

Everything has gone right for the New Orleans Saints through two weeks of the NFL season. Now they return home to face the Philadelphia Eagles, with a crowd that will have the Superdome rocking like it hasn't in years. But is it all too much? Too much hype, too much success too fast? Our Saints Insider crew of Times-Picayune beat writers Matthew Paras and Luke Johnson, columnist Jeff Duncan and ho...

The New Orleans Saints have two emphatic victories in two weeks of the NFL season. Our Saints Insider team of beat writer Luke Johnson, columnists Rod Walker and Jeff Duncan and host Zach Ewing takes stock of how much they've risen in the NFC ranks, what they expect going forward and more. Included in this episode: • Explaining why the Saints' offense has been unstoppable • Giving the O-line its f...

The New Orleans Saints impressed in their Week 1 victory over the Carolina Panthers, but now the going gets significantly more difficult. The Saints travel to AT&T Stadium to face the Dallas Cowboys, who also opened with an easy win, theirs against the Cleveland Browns. Our Saints Insider crew of Rod Walker, Matthew Paras, Luke Johnson and host Zach Ewing breaks down the game from every angle, inc...

The New Orleans Saints looked great in their Week 1 rout of the Carolina Panthers. But now comes a much a bigger challenge: A date with the Dallas Cowboys, who also had a resounding Week 1 victory and haven't lost a home regular season game since the 2021 season. Adding to the Saints' obstacles is Hurricane Francine, which is barreling down on New Orleans on Wednesday and affecting both practice t...

The New Orleans Saints open up the 2024 season on Sunday at the Superdome against the Carolina Panthers. We'll finally get to see Klint Kubiak's new offense in action, an invigorated pass rush and the start of a season that is pivotal to the future of the Saints franchise. Our Saints Insiders — Luke Johnson, Jeff Duncan, Matthew Paras and Zach Ewing — break down the game in all facets and then giv...

What if it all goes right for the New Orleans Saints? How good could their 2024 season be? And on the flip side, what if it all goes wrong? Our Saints Insiders of Jeff Duncan, Rod Walker, Matthew Paras and Zach Ewing discuss those questions, as well as whether the Saints did enough this offseason to supplement their offensive line. Finally, we make our NFL picks for the upcoming season: Storyline...

It's only nine days until the New Orleans Saints kick off the 2024 season against the Carolina Panthers, and we're not here to be meek. In this episode of the Saints Insider podcast, Times-Picayune columnists Jeff Duncan and Rod Walker, beat writer Luke Johnson and host Zach Ewing give their BOLD predictions for the 2024 Saints, featuring: • Taysom Hill, Taysom Hill and more Taysom Hill • Chase Yo...

The New Orleans Saints have their initial 53-man active roster set for the 2024 season. Our Saints columnists Jeff Duncan and Rod Walker break down who made the cut — and some of the more surprising names who didn't, and how this could all change before the first game Sept. 8.

The New Orleans Saints finish up their preseason schedule Sunday at home against the Tennessee Titans, and so it's the final time for players to impress the coaching staff to make the 53-man roster.  Our Saints Insider crew of Luke Johnson, Matthew Paras, Rod Walker and host Zach Ewing breaks down what to watch for in the Titans game, touching on: • The plan at quarterback • The competition for th...

The New Orleans Saints are back in town and wrapping up training camp this week before their final preseason game Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Our Saints Insider crew of Jeff Duncan, Luke Johnson, Matthew Paras and host Zach Ewing go through some reasons for optimism and reasons for pessimism they've gained through camp — good new for the Saints and bad news for the Saints. We cover: • Pas...

The New Orleans Saints received a double dose of bad news Thursday during and after their most recent training camp practice, with rookie offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga leaving practice with a back injury and Pro Bowl safety Justin Simmons, whom the Saints courted in free agency, signed instead with the Saints' hated rival and the NFC South favorites, the Atlanta Falcons. All of that provides a ba...

On today's episode of Saints Insider, we play a game called "Buy or Sell?" Our experts, beat writer Matthew Paras and columnist Jeff Duncan, come to you live from Southern California, where the Saints are holding training camp, to answer whether they're BUYING or SELLING each of the following: • Cam Jordan pass rushing from the inside • The Saints replacing Trevor Penning at right tackle • Whether...

The New Orleans Saints play their first preseason game of 2024 on Saturday against the Arizona Cardinals, but much of the talk the past couple of days at training camp has centered on free-agent safety Justin Simmons, who is visiting the team and may sign a contract to bolster the Saints' secondary. Times-Picayune beat writers Luke Johnson and Matthew Paras break down the chances Simmons signs wit...

The New Orleans Saints have an off day from training camp Tuesday, so the Saints Insiders are here to break down what's been going on in Southern California. In this episode, Times-Picayune beat writers Luke Johnson and Matthew Paras break down: • How Spencer Rattler is making the backup QB battle a real competition • Why Chris Olave might turn into a national star in Year 3 • Whether the offensiv...

Eight practices into New Orleans Saints training camp, we can start to make some conclusions about what we've seen. The Times-Picayune's Saints Insiders Luke Johnson and Rod Walker are here to do just that, talking about the under-the-radar players they've been most impressed with, the backup quarterback battle between Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener and the most intriguing storylines from camp th...

Times-Picayune beat writers Luke Johnson and Matthew Paras record the latest Saints Insider episode live from Southern California, where the New Orleans Saints have wrapped up their first week of training camp, including three practices in full pads. So what have we learned? Is the defensive line dominant, or the offensive line just that bad? Who has stood out, and what's the latest on camp injuri...

The New Orleans Saints head off to Irvine, California, for three weeks of training camp starting Wednesday. Before our Saints Insider crew follows them west, we're here to preview the camp, including: • Whether going away for camp is an advantage • Top position battles to watch • Klint Kubiak's offensive install • Dennis Allen is trying to change his ways • How much has the defense slipped? • Alvi...

With training camps opening across the NFL next week, we spent one of our last offseason podcasts looking at the season ahead, specifically at the NFC playoff picture. Each of our Saints Insiders — Jeff Duncan, Rod Walker, Matthew Paras and host Zach Ewing — ranked the NFC teams, 1 through 16. We then tallied up the votes and divvied the teams into tiers: Pretenders, long shots, contenders and fav...

The New Orleans Saints have several players entering the 2024 season in a contract year, i.e., the final year of their current contract. They range from role players to possible stars on one-year prove-it deals. Given their usual salary cap restraints, the Saints will have to make tough decisions on these six players, and in turn the players could earn huge paydays — or a ticket out of town — base...

The Saints Insider podcast is back with a look at various offseason NFL power rankings that have been published across the country — most of them placing the New Orleans Saints in the bottom quarter of the league. Add that to a recent ESPN story that ranks the Saints' talent under the age of 25 as the third-worst in the NFL, and you have an emerging pattern: Not many around the country think the S...

No matter how you define "breakout" — from a bench player to start, a starter to a standout, a standout to a Pro Bowler — every team has players it hopes will take a big step in their career. That's certainly true for the 2024 New Orleans Saints, who have one of the NFL's oldest rosters and need young players to improve. In today's episode, our Saints Insider staff of Luke Johnson, Jeff Duncan, Ma...

This isn't a list of the best New Orleans Saints players, or the most talented or most valuable. It's a list of the most important for the Saints' 2024 fortunes. We had three Saints Insiders — beat writers Matthew Paras and Luke Johnson and columnist Jeff Duncan — rank their top 10 "most important Saints," then made a composite ranking. On this episode of Saints Insider, those three, along with ho...

Various sportsbooks have set over/under totals for various New Orleans Saints' players statistics in the 2024 season. Our Saints Insider team of beat writers Luke Johnson and Matthew Paras and host Zach Ewing take a crack at some of them here, including: • Derek Carr over/under 3,450.5 yards and 21.5 touchdowns • Alvin Kamara o/u 650.5 yards, 6.5 touchdowns • Chris Olave o/u 1,125.5 yards • Chase...

With mandatory minicamp in the rearview mirror and training camp in California up next, our Saints Insiders of Jeff Duncan, Luke Johnson, Matthew Paras and host Zach Ewing take a swing at projecting New Orleans' 53-man roster when the regular season begins in less than three months. Who wins the big battles at wide receiver and linebacker? Any surprise cuts or additions? And who of the past two dr...