According to ESPN, there are nine potential NFL head coaching vacancies in this year’s hiring cycle. While some spots have yet to open up, we already know the New Orleans Saints will be searching for a new head coach this offseason after previously moving on from Dennis Allen.
Presumably, interim coach Darren Rizzi will be a candidate to become the full-time head coach in New Orleans. Yet, one analyst believes the Saints will rank as the NFL’s least desirable coaching vacancy of the offseason.
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ESPN ranks New Orleans Saints as NFL’s worst coaching vacancy
Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren has previously said the Chicago Bears had the most desirable coaching vacancy in the NFL. Yet, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell doesn’t agree. He ranks them as having the third-most desirable vacancy.
However, he also believes the New Orleans Saints have the NFL’s worst coaching vacancy, meaning they could have a hard time landing the coach of their dreams. Specifically, Barnwell states that the few pros of taking the Saints job is the fact that they’re in a weak division, and have a strong ownership situation.
However, the Saints’ cons are their roster and salary cap situation. There’s no future franchise quarterback on this roster, and New Orleans is always behind the eight-ball by kicking dead cap down the road to future years.
“There isn’t as much as the Saints would hope to serve as the core of the next generation. Wideout Chris Olave has dealt with concussions this season. First-round picks Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning are works in progress at tackle as opposed to immediate solutions, with Penning’s fifth-year option looming as a difficult call. Kool-Aid McKinstry has taken his lumps as a rookie corner, which isn’t concerning, but Alontae Taylor has given up more expected points added (EPA) than any cornerback in the league. Paulson Adebo, another corner, broke his leg in October. The Saints have dropped from seventh in EPA allowed per play a year ago to 20th this season.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell on New Orleans Saints
The other path would be to accept reality and begin a difficult rebuild. It’ll take two years to get the bad contracts off the long-abused Saints’ cap sheet, and what happens over that time span won’t be pretty. This Mickey Loomis-led front office had an all-timer of a draft in 2017, but the results since then have been mixed. It remains to be seen if ownership lets Loomis and assistant GM Jeff Ireland handle the rebuild when it does come. The Benson family has been willing to pay massive bonuses up front year after year as part of restructures for the Saints to keep their cap afloat and shown plenty of patience as the organization tries to rebuild a post-Brees identity. Unfortunately, it might have been too much patience.”
Teams like the Washington Commanders have shown how quickly their fortunes can change in just one offseason. However, the Commanders set themselves up nicely by landing the second overall pick and entering with a clear cap sheet. The Saints aren’t in that same position, which means they could have a hard time getting their top target this offseason.
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