LA Chargers 2020 opponent preview: New Orleans Saints
By Jason Reed
New Orleans Saints’ additions and subtractions:
Additions:
The biggest addition that the New Orleans Saints made this offseason was bringing in Emmanuel Sanders. The Saints had a massive hole in the depth chart at WR2 last season and Sanders fills a massive need and gives the team good depth behind Michael Thomas, who had the best wide receiver season of the decade.
Jameis Winston is the other notable name that the Saints brought in this offseason but it is not much of a huge addition. The purpose of Winston is very simple: he replaces Teddy Bridgewater as the second-string quarterback that will come in if Drew Brees gets hurt.
The importance of this is that it allows the team to get creative with Taysom Hill. The Saints don’t/can’t use Hill as often when he is the QB2.
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Janoris Jenkins is essentially an addition as well. He was brought in last year to play the final two games of the season.
In the draft, the only notable picks worth mentioning are interior lineman Cesar Ruiz (which led to a subtraction) and linebacker Zack Baun.
Subtractions:
Any subtractions that the Saints had this offseason were made up, and even improved in most cases. They lost Teddy Bridgewater but replaced him with Winston; they lost Eli Apple, who is essentially being replaced with Janoris Jenkins; they released Larry Warford but drafted Cesar Ruiz; they lost Ted Ginn but signed Emmanuel Sanders.
In all actuality, this offseason was a big net-positive for the New Orleans Saints. The only thing that might get worse is the quarterback play if Drew Brees’ age starts to catch up to him.