New Orleans Saints Preseason Superlatives
The New Orleans Saints kick off their 2022 campaign in Atlanta at Mercedes Benz Stadium on Sept. 11., against the Atlanta Falcons. After a disappointing injury-ridden 2021 season which ended just shy of a wild card spot, the Saints look to have a healthy bounce-back season. Heading into summer training, I picked my preseason superlatives.
Rookie of the Year
Everyone expects this to be the Saints’ first pick from this year’s draft, highly touted Ohio State receiver Chris Olave. Olave will be a star in this league one year, just not in year one. With a healthy Mike Thomas returning and veteran Jarvis Landry coming in from free agency, Olave will play third fiddle and have diluted stats on the season.
The ROTY for the Saints will be their second selection in first-round pick, tackle, Trevor Penning for Northern Iowa. Penning is coming in at 6-foot-7-inches tall and 325 pounds. He has the perfect frame to be a left tackle in the league. With Terron Armstead leaving in free agency for the Miami Dolphins, the Saints needed to replace Jameis Winston’s blindside tackle. They did so with Penning who will come in and make an instant impact. It won't initially be appreciated like Olave's because the big men up front never get the recognition they deserve.
Comeback Player of the Year
This one is hard, is it, Winston? Michael Thomas? Will Lutz? It must be Michael Thomas; he hasn’t played a fully healthy season in this decade, and people have forgotten just how good he is when healthy. Thomas, when healthy, is a top-five receiver in the league and now with Winston at the helm it allows Thomas to open the deep ball that Brees didn’t have in him towards the end of his career. People call Thomas “slant boy,” but if you take away all his slants from his 2019 league offensive player of the year campaign he still led the league in receptions and yards. I’m not saying he’ll return to his elite production, but he gives Winston a wide receiver one option in an offense that has lacked receiver talent without a healthy Thomas.
Defensive player of the year
This one was easy: it must be the one person who has been criminally underrated since he signed with the Saints in 2018, Demario Davis. His production has been at an All-Pro level since he arrived in New Orleans in 2018 but the league hasn’t recognized him with honors up to that level. He has been the quarterback of this defense since he arrived in the Big Easy, and although he’s going to be 33-years-old this upcoming season, people will expect his production to slow down. That might come one day but it won’t be this season as he has recorded at least 100 plus total tackles since signing with the black and gold. I would fully expect him to do so again this year.
Offensive player of the year
This award usually is second place to whomever the best offensive player is who ends up being MVP. If he can stay healthy, the award will go to Jameis Winston. Saints fans got a small sample size of how good he can be in the Saints’ offense and did so without what is presumed to be his top three receivers this season. In his seven games before the injury, he posted a 5-2 record with a 15 to three touchdown to interception ratio which ranked third in the league up to that point. Even though it was just a small sample size he showed a vast improvement from when he was last a starter with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s shown that his time learning under Drew Brees had influenced his on-the-field performance. If Winston can stay healthy and produce the same as he did in the first seven-game as last season, the Saints could be poised to make a deep run in the playoffs.
MVP
There are questions up in the air about Alvin Kamara and what is going to be a potential six-game suspension stemming from assault charges during an event that occurred over Pro Bowl weekend. Another question is can he stay healthy? When Kamara is healthy, he puts up elite production, but it’s well known that running backs in the NFL have a short shelf life and their production can decline rapidly at any given moment.
This will not be the case for him as he gets lots of receptions out of the backfield and functions more as a receiving back. He also doesn’t carry the load himself as Mark Ingram is there to finish their one-two punch. Kamara is a difference-maker whenever the ball is in his hands. Whether his suspension is four games or six, he will be the team’s MVP as the Saints’ success will stem from whenever he can to take the field again.