The 2025 NFL season didn’t go how we expected for the New Orleans Saints… kinda. We knew that New Orleans was going to be one of the bottom teams in terms of wins, but you won’t find a happier 6-win team.
The Saints aren’t happy because they won six games, not in the slightest, but an emergence of a potential coach of the future, franchise quarterback, and a homerun draft class, the black and gold may be set up to compete, maybe even starting in 2026.
In what was known to be a down season for the Saints, many players stepped up, and this article would be too long if I included every player who showed significant strides. Chris Olave became the wide receiver we knew him to be once New Orleans made a QB change, Juwan Johnson had a career year, and the Saints’ draft class as a whole looks to contain core pieces of their future. While I did not mention these players on the list, they very much could have made it.
Up: QB Tyler Shough
Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough was the most overlooked passer from his draft class. The story of the draft was centered on Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders before the season began, and the electricity of Jaxson Dart taking over in the midseason. Shough didn’t get his chance until after the midseason mark and didn’t look back. The rookie quarterback ended his first season 5-4 as a starter, throwing for 2,384 yards for 10 touchdowns and 6 interceptions while logging 186 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Shough had a hard road ahead of him. The roster around him wasn’t great, and if he wasn’t able to force the Saints out of quarterback range in the draft, New Orleans could’ve possibly looked to replace him in 2026. But all that talk is irrelevant. Shough won five games for the Saints and was above .500 as a starter, showing all the abilities and glimpses of not just a starter in the NFL but a star. With a strong relationship with head coach Kellen Moore and developing chemistry with WR1 Chris Olave, the future for Tyler Shough is bright, and the Saints are in a position to begin building around him.
Up: Coaching Staff
The Saints’ coaching hires in 2025 were a homerun despite a slow start. Head coach Kellen Moore has built a locker room with players who always hold him in high regard and play for him. Moore was always going to get a second season as head coach, but his 2-10 start was a cause for concern. The rookie head coach showed inexperience in situational awareness and a lack of ability to lead the offense through the team’s first half of the season.
But all of his struggles began to dwindle as Tyler Shough took over at quarterback. Moore’s guy was at the center of the offense, and it became a well-oiled machine. While there were consistent struggles, such as slow first-quarter starts, the offense always found ways to adjust, and Moore put his rookie quarterback in the best situation to win. Despite plenty of injuries, including just two Week 1 starters being healthy in Week 18, Shough and Moore found a way to end the season guns blazing, winning four of their last five.
A lot of the team’s late-season success can also be credited to the hiring of defensive coordinator Brandon Staley. Staley revitalized a once fierce Saints defense, with his 3-4 scheme utilizing young players and optimizing aging veterans. Linebacker Demario Davis logged the most tackles in his career in 2025, and defensive end Cameron Jordan put up double-digit sacks for the first time since 2021. The Saints’ defense took a big step up after their lackluster season in 2024. According to Jeff Duncan, New Orleans finished the season ranked 9th in total defense (299.8 yards allowed per game) and 17th in scoring defense (22.5 ppg.) A significant jump from last year, where they ranked 30th in yards per game and 19th in scoring.
The Saints look to have something special in Kellen Moore, and Brandon Staley has set his defense up for success in just one year under his scheme without all the fitting pieces. As the team continues to build, it appears they are being led in the right direction.
Up: DE Chase Young
Defensive end Chase Young had a lot of expectations coming into the 2025 season after signing a three-year $51 million contract after his prove-it deal with the black and gold, and it started bumpy. Young missed the first five games of the season with an injury suffered in practice in the build-up to Week 1, and his status remained unclear until he was able to see his first action against the New England Patriots.
But once Young finally saw action, he was the best player on the field. The former second-overall pick finished the season with 10 sacks over 12 games, including closing out the season with five sacks over a four-game span. Many looked at Young’s three-year deal poorly, as the Saints invested heavily in a player who consistently left a lot to be desired over his career. But what New Orleans saw when making that deal was clear. Young is worth everything his second-overall pick price tag would warrant, and he continued to make plays. When he wasn’t getting to the quarterback, his elite awareness made him disruptive, batting passes down at the line of scrimmage.
Young is a piece the Saints defense can build around, and still only 26 years old, he has the makings to be a top edge rusher in the NFL.
Down: RB Alvin Kamara
It’s been a while since we’ve seen running back Alvin Kamara at his game-changing peak. While still a playmaker and a mismatch for opposing defenses, at 30 years old, the Saints legend has struggled to help the Saints offense establish a consistent run game. Kamara is not to blame for the team’s lack of a run game. The offensive line has been a carousel with the third-most unique combinations in 2025, and a lack of a pass game with Spencer Rattler at quarterback allowed defenses to load the box.
Kamara appeared in 11 games for the black and gold and recorded career lows in rushing yards (471) and yards per carry (3.6). Most surprisingly, however, was the versatile back’s lack of presence as a receiver. Kamara only recorded 186 receiving yards in 2025, nearly 300 yards less than his next career low. The former third-round pick is showing signs of aging, which is normal for a running back in his 30s. While not as much of an X-Factor on the field as he once was, Kamara still makes the perfect complementary back to whoever New Orleans puts aside him in 2026.
Down: Penalties
Mentioned earlier, but the Saints’ Achilles heel during the season was penalties. New Orleans was 11th-ranked in the NFL in flags with 7.9 per game. While being outside the bottom 10 may not seem alarming, it’s the situations these penalties create. The Saints ranked as the fourth-worst team in terms of pre-snap penalties, which consistently killed their offensive drives. While their ability to convert on these longer situations improved when Shough became the head of the offense, the issue never really improved.
Lowering the amount of penalties will surely be a focus during the offseason, but saying and doing are much different. The Saints brought in referees during their practices early in the regular season to reduce the number of penalties, but improvement was minimal. There needs to be a rebuilding of the team’s process to make a significant impact in avoiding flags, especially surrounding presnap.
