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With Brees gone, can the Saints still make the playoffs?

Ed Daniels

About 24 hours after Saints quarterback Drew Brees made his retirement announcement, the Saints agreed to a one year, $12 million contract with Jameis Winston.

So, let’s see.

The Saints are obligated for only one season to Winston and to Taysom Hill. Hill signed a 4-year extension, but none of the money after 2021 is guaranteed.

Welcome to the one-year audition to replace Drew Brees.

My guess is, barring injury, or a disastrous preseason, Winston will be the Saints quarterback when the 2021 season kicks off.

There’s a lot to like.

He’s mobile, and he can throw any pass. The Saints playbook, with Winston at quarterback is wide open.

The Saints obviously feel that the quarterback they thought they knew when he was at Tampa Bay, isn’t the same guy who spent the 2020 season in the Saints locker room.

Maybe so.

And, the Saints obviously feel that Sean Payton is the head coach who can teach Winston how to be more selective with his throws.

With Winston in Tampa Bay, it was feast or famine.

In 2019, he was the only quarterback in the NFL to throw for 5,000 yards.

He also threw a mind boggling 30 interceptions.

Winston also had fumbling issues.

From 2015 to 2019, as the starter at Tampa Bay, Winston fumbled 31 times.

In the last six seasons, from 2015 through 2020, Drew Brees fumbled 22 times.

And, Brees, even in the twilight of his NFL career, was far more efficient than Winston.

Here’s Brees’ quarterback rating the last six seasons: 101.0, 101.7, 103.9, 115.7, 116.3 and 106.4.

Jameis Winston’s highest passer rating of his career is 92.2, in 2017.

In the meantime, now is the perfect time for Brees to step aside.

He has his Super Bowl ring (not winning another won’t tarnish his legacy).

He has a network TV job waiting.

And, the Saints are, at the very least, retooling, if not rebuilding.

When the Saints cut Jared Cook, Nick Easton, Josh Hill, Janoris Jenkins, Thomas Morstead, Emmanuel Sanders, they terminated 816 regular season games of NFL experience.

The Saints roster will be cheaper and far less experienced.

And, injuries, something the Saints could weather before, with quality depth, will be far more of a variable as to how successful the Saints are in 2021.

The last time a team other than the New Orleans Saints, won the NFC South was in 2016.

If New Orleans wins the South for an unprecedented fifth straight season, it means that either Winston or Hill, or a combination of the two, has had a stellar season.

It would be a great story.

But, I say it’s far more likely that the Saints are an eight or nine win team this season.

With Drew Brees at quarterback, the question was can the Saints win another Super Bowl?

Now, the question is, can the Saints still make the playoffs?

The narrative changes, drastically, when a first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback walks away. BC

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