Oh, when the Saints go marching in. Now, when the saints go marching in, they’re going 0-17 when the Saints go marching in. The league’s worst team, with a dreadful offensive line, a terrible receiving corps, worse quarterbacks, and an awful defense that just lost its feistiness (Tyrann Mathieu retired). There isn’t much brightness for the Saints… except Alvin Kamara, like always! Let’s dive into the 2025 New Orleans Saints!
Overdrafted:
Chris Olave, Wide Receiver (WR34, Pick 76 Overall)
It isn’t that Olave isn’t a good player; he has had 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons, but injuries destroyed his 2024 campaign. Two concussions—his third and fourth of his NFL career—sidelined him for half of the season. But, in the games where he played all game (and didn’t leave with concussions), he averaged five catches for 64 yards per game. That is his complete upside this year (119/85/1082 pace, in his six healthy games last year), given his quarterbacks under center.
Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler are not going to give him the same opportunity to produce, despite Kellen Moore running the offense now. They’re not transformative quarterbacks, and the offensive line will not protect them long enough to make them perform well enough to support Olave… if he stays healthy.
He could easily finish as a top-30 receiver; his 85/1082 pace last year would have put him roughly at Courtland Sutton’s pace (81/1081). However, he scored only one touchdown in his six games, which isn’t likely to change. That will drag him down the ranks to a low-ceiling WR3. I’m not interested in that at the price of a low-ceiling WR3.
Underdrafted:
Alvin Kamara, Running Back (RB18, Pick 47 Overall)
You all should be ashamed of yourselves. RB18?
RB5. RB3. RB13. RB4. RB1. RB8. RB4. RB4.
Those are Alvin Kamara’s finishes in his career. His worst finish in points per game was the best possible RB2. How dare you besmirch Alvin Kamara like this? He had the second-highest rushing yards per game of his career last season, the second-most carries per game, and the most touches of his entire career, and he did it in just 14 games.
But rushing is not why we love Alvin Kamara. Alvin Kamara is the pre-eminent pass-catching running back in the NFL, and nothing will dissuade me from that short of seeing Kamara put up a season where he doesn’t get at least 3.5 receptions per game. Kamara is averaging five receptions and 41 yards per game in his career, just in receiving. That number hasn’t faltered lately, either, as he averaged 6.5 targets, 5.3 receptions, and 36.6 yards per game over the last two seasons, giving him an 8.9 PPR boost on top of anything else he does.
That’s why Alvin Kamara is the GOAT: one reception is worth 10 rushing yards, and there is zero solid competition for targets on this team. Chris Olave is a hard shove away from the concussion protocol, Rashid Shaheed is hurt, Brandin Cooks is (pause for tears…washed), Juwan Johnson is counting his stacks, there’s nobody else there.
Even if there was, the quarterbacks stink. Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler are having the worst QB competition ever, and Alvin Kamara will soak up all their terrible targets because they crumble under pressure and release it down to him. I’m giving him a vintage Kamara season here: 81 receptions.
Sleeper:
Juwan Johnson, Tight End (TE35, Pick 260 Overall)
I don’t have any faith that the Saints’ quarterbacks will be able to push the ball down the field. Never fear, as we have Juwan Johnson to soak up targets alongside Alvin Kamara. The Saints gave him a fully guaranteed contract this offseason (for 2025 & 2026), and he was a legit fantasy football-relevant tight end after God took his favored Son (Jesus 2.0, AKA Taysom Hill) from us. After Taysom Hill’s knee injury, Johnson averaged six targets, four catches, and 45 yards per game. That paces out to 71 catches for 768 yards per game, which would have been fifth and sixth at the position last season, respectively.
