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New Orleans Saints: The importance of Willie Snead’s breakout

By Kevin Parvizi

Nov 1, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receiver Willie Snead (83) catches a pass for a touchdown as he is defended by New York Giants defensive back Trevin Wade (31) during the second quarter of the game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 1, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receiver Willie Snead (83) catches a pass for a touchdown as he is defended by New York Giants defensive back Trevin Wade (31) during the second quarter of the game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports /
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With the worst defense in the NFL, one that was a few decimals off an even 30 points per game allowed, the New Orleans Saints could have easily finished the 2015 season with a record lower than 7-9. Thanks to Drew Brees, Brandin Cooks, Willie Snead, and a passing offense that had vintage Saints explosiveness, New Orleans was able to salvage something out of their season, including three wins in their final four games.

In his second season, Cooks blew up with a team-high 1,138 receiving yards and 84 receptions, and he looked like a true star wide receiver, taking full advantage of his ability to play in all 16 games. I already broke down Cooks’s sophomore breakout here, but the more surprising breakout season came from No. 2 wide receiver Willie Snead.

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Nobody knew who Snead was before the start of the 2015 season, except for Saints fans who saw him regularly praised in training camp. Former Rutgers UDFA Brandon Coleman looked like the X-Factor in the Saints offense due to his size/speed combo, but all of us drooling over Coleman’s raw tools ignored the fact that Snead was the type of receiver the Saints needed.

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See, it’s nice to have a player like Coleman who looks like a great deep threat and red zone weapon on paper, but the Saints already had a target-hogging, explosive playmaker in Cooks, who is a former first-round pick. What the Saints needed was a possession-type receiver with enough speed to do more than just rack up receptions, since, well, Cooks needed a better No. 2 receiver to work with him in tandem than the aging Marques Colston.

Snead provided the Saints with exactly what they need, and Drew Brees, who was once again one of the best handful of quarterbacks in the league, quickly grew to trust the former Ball State product. Just 23, Snead plays like a seasoned veteran, and it just seems like he’s always open. The Saints know how important it is to give Brees receivers he can trust to consistently make the catch, and it’s why Snead is locked in as the No. 2 wide receiver going forward.

The raw numbers alone are impressive, as Snead caught 69 passes for 984 yards and three touchdowns with a rather robust 14.3 yards per reception in just his first season of action. Cooks, Colston, and tight end Ben Watson all had catch rates above 65%, so the fact that Snead’s 68.3% catch rate and 14.3 YPR led the team is something all fans must keep in mind.

Cooks was the Saints best wide receiver and playmaker last season, but Snead wasn’t as far behind as you might think. Yes, everyone benefits from playing with a QB as great as Brees, but his 101.0 QB Rating and other amazing numbers don’t explain away the fact that Snead was the Saints most efficient wide receiver on a per-target basis.

I always enjoy looking at a wide receiver’s situational stats in comparison to what his teammates did, and Snead’s numbers on third down are a nice exercise in this.

Earlier in the piece, I used words like “trust” to describe the ostensible relationship between Snead and Brees on the field, and I think the play-by-play data from Pro-Football-Reference.com backs this up. Although Snead was “only” third on the team with 101 targets, he led the Saints with 25 receptions on third downs (Cooks had nine more third-down targets, Watson had one less). More importantly, his 75.8% catch rate clearly led all four of the Saints main pass-catchers, and his 19 third down conversions on passing plays also led the team.

There’s no doubt that Cooks was the team’s best and main deep threat last season, as he had more than double (45) the number of targets of at least 20 yards downfield of anyone else on the team. However, it was Snead who led the team with a 63.6% catch rate on those downfield passes, so while he didn’t make as many big plays as Cooks (Cooks had five touchdowns on deep passes compared to just one for Snead) or face more difficult coverages than Cooks, his reliability in the passing game also translated to these types of plays.

As a matter of fact, no wide receiver (Zach Ertz was the only player in general, by the way) with at least 20 targets had a higher catch rate on deep passes than Snead last season. You can view the full list of players here.

Dec 13, 2015; Tampa, FL, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receiver Willie Snead (83) runs with the ball against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. New Orleans Saints defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 13, 2015; Tampa, FL, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receiver Willie Snead (83) runs with the ball against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. New Orleans Saints defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

Without Snead’s out-of-nowhere breakout season, in which he banked on a slow crescendo of offseason hype, the Saints offense wouldn’t have been fourth in net yards per pass attempt and eighth in yards per game.

If he didn’t play the role of third-down maven, underrated deep threat, and reliable always-open WR2, Cooks wouldn’t have been given the chance to be unleashed as one of the NFL’s most dangerous playmakers.

Brees would still be amazing, but maybe his QB Rating wouldn’t have been above 100.0. I mean, what looks better, a pass-catching trio of Cooks-Watson-Colston or a trio of Cooks-Snead-Watson?

Going forward, I expect Snead’s star to rise even further, because, again, he’s just 23 right now, and he’s already been a safer option beyond his years.

He isn’t the fastest, most athletic, biggest, or most agile wide receiver, but he is smart, runs clean routes, produces, fights for the ball, and doesn’t make many negative plays (such as drops).

Essentially, he profiles as the type of wide receiver a quarterback like Brees loves to have as an option (just not the main option), and I can’t wait to see what the Saints offense has in store for us in 2016.

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It’s important to note that because of Snead’s athletic limitations, he definitely benefits from playing with Cooks, Watson, Brees, and a strong running game around him. But his job is to be a safe option who can move the chains and efficiently take advantage of the opportunities given to him, so, based on the stats he put up in just his first regular season (he came into the league in 2014 as a Cleveland Browns UDFA), he achieved this goal.

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