The New Orleans Saints ended 2025 with an overall record of just 6-11, finishing fourth in the NFC South division. Last season, the team had a first-year head coach, no solidified starting quarterback, injuries galore, and no identity or sense of direction. However, that was then.
Now, the focus has since shifted to the future, and the organization feels that it has turned over a new leaf. With a full offseason under most of their belts, expectations for this year are through the roof, and the team’s
offseason moves have fans eager for an opportunity to see the black and gold in action once more. Before training camps ramp up at the end of this month, let’s look back at how this spring’s transactions altered the roster and give those decisions an overall grade.
Mickey Loomis and Kellen Moore hit the ground running when the 2026 free agency period opened. The team managed to sign players in various key areas of need such as: G David Edwards (Buffalo Bills), LB Kaden Elliss (Atlanta Falcons), RB Travis Etienne Jr. (Jacksonville Jaguars), TE Noah Fant (Cincinnati Bengals), and P Ryan Wright (Minnesota Vikings).
After blocking for some of the most high-octane offenses in recent league history like the Los Angeles Rams and Bills, eighth-year veteran Edwards became a top acquisition priority for the Saints. Both Elliss and Wright’s signing in New Orleans serves as a sort of homecoming. Elliss was drafted to the league by the Saints in 2019 but left shortly after for a three-year stint in ATL with the “dirty birds.” Wright, although having no professional ties to New Orleans, played collegiately as a member of the Green Wave football team at Tulane.
New Orleans’ biggest splash this offseason was bringing home Etienne Jr., a Louisiana native. After a career-low season statistically for RB Alvin Kamara, New Orleans targeted Etienne in hopes of breathing new life into a rather inefficient Saints offense. The team paired that addition with TE Noah Fant, a player New Orleans had been linked to before as a potential landing spot. Fant is a longtime NFL veteran who could take snaps when needed but also serve as a mentor and leader to a young WR and TE group.
Unfortunately, not every move can be a positive when a team is in a rebuilding process. Of three big defensive names that New Orleans was in a pendulum with this offseason, only one was resigned to the team. Longtime Saints defensive end Cam Jordan agreed to a deal with the team to come back for one final season as he closes out his historic NFL career. On the flip side of the coin, top-end talents in the league, linebacker Demario Davis and cornerback Alontae Taylor, departed in free agency.
It is a difficult transition for a younger team to lose a lot of leadership like the Saints have, especially on one side of the ball. The team responded with a strong draft class that included 8th-overall selection WR Jordyn Tyson and even made a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders in the mid rounds. New Orleans would wind up trading away a fifth-round pick for the Raiders’ Tyree Wilson, a former first-round pick edge rusher.
In polling members and staff writers at Canal Street Chronicles, many have graded the Saints’ offseason at an average grade of B, an impressive although not perfect score.
When asked what was preventing many from giving New Orleans’ transactions a grade of A, big factors included the loss of Davis from the LB core, a lack of leadership across remaining veterans on the team, and an inability to make the defense a focal point of improvement.
What are your overall thoughts on the team’s offseason? What would you grade these moves? What new player are you most looking forward to seeing this season? Let us know in the comments below!
