Success for the New Orleans Saints in 2025 will be different depending on who you ask. Some are hoping New Orleans can make a playoff push, while others are more concerned about draft positioning for the black and gold. However, the win column isn’t what will determine the success for the Saints during the 2025 season.
Finding an Answer at Quarterback
The Saints quarterback competition ended disappointingly during the preseason. Neither signal caller was able to steal the job, and the decision ultimately came down to second-year
quarterback Spencer Rattler winning the job via a coaching decision. While Rattler deserved the position and edged out Shough through training camp, it’s a disappointment that the winner of the job didn’t make the decision easy.
Entering the regular season, the biggest question revolving around the Saints is the quarterback, not just for 2025, but also for the future. New Orleans needs to determine whether Rattler, rookie Tyler Shough, or a player not yet on the roster will be their future. While Rattler is the Week 1 starter, there is a better than zero percent chance we see Shough make an appearance during the season. The Saints will have to evaluate both quarterbacks and see if they can lead the franchise. The good news, if Shough never starts a game for New Orleans in 2025, it likely indicates Rattler has performed well.
The 2026 NFL Draft appears to be loaded with quarterback talent. From Garrett Nussmeier to the potential declaration from Arch Manning, the Saints will have a good selection of signal callers to pick from if neither of their young quarterbacks can perform. The importance of the 2025 season revolves around New Orleans figuring out if Shough or Rattler can be the future of the franchise. If not, the Saints could add a new candidate early in the draft.
Developing Their Young Talent
The Saints’ 2025 draft class has had a promising start to their careers. Through training camp and preseason, plenty of rookies have made an early impact. 8/9 of the team’s draft selections made the 53-man roster, with only seventh-round pick Fadil Diggs getting cut, but later brought back to the practice squad.
With the Saints entering a rebuild year, the most crucial factor is the development of their draft picks. New Orleans has drafted poorly in recent years and hasn’t been able to find success close to their 2017 draft class. Strong draft classes are the beginning of the turnaround for rebuilding teams, with franchises such as the Houston Texans, Washington Commanders, and Detroit Lions being the most recent examples.
Outside of the 2025 draft class, there are plenty of other players whose development will be detrimental to the team’s success moving forward. Players such as Taliese Fuaga, Bryan Bresee, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Kendre Miller, and Chris Olave show immense promise and could play a big part in the team’s eventual turnaround.
Kellen Moore
Kellen Moore has all the makings of a successful head coach in the NFL. Experience running some of the league’s top offenses, close relationships with many of the league’s top quarterbacks, and strong relationships with his players. The Dennis Allen era was a massive failure in New Orleans, and the team has only slipped ever since the departure of Sean Payton.
The first-year head coach was the coordinator whom New Orleans targeted throughout the head coaching search, and the repercussions couldn’t be higher. The hiring of Moore can either accelerate the rebuilding process or prolong it a few more years. The development of the team’s young players and quarterbacks is directly reliant on the former Super Bowl-winning head coach.
Moore has won the trust of his players and the fans by doing everything right since entering the building. The Saints likely won’t be a competitive team in 2025, but Moore needs to keep his players bought in. No matter if the team finishes 13-3 or 3-13, he needs to keep players ready and morale high.
Rebuild Culture
Throughout the Sean Payton and Drew Brees era, culture was rarely an issue. Fans filled the Superdome after three straight 7-9 seasons, and New Orleans was noted as one of the hardest places to play. Unfortunately, over the past few seasons, the team’s culture has drifted.
Despite the culture shift, fans filled the Superdome during the preseason and have continued to show excitement for the team despite low projections. Football is everything in New Orleans, and the Saints helped the city recover from the traumatic damages of Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago. No matter what happens in 2025 and how well the Saints perform, the team needs to reestablish the culture that Brees and Payton built and reconnect with the city.
