New Orleans Saints: Joe Horn, Wide Receiver
With Drew Brees retiring this offseason, the New Orleans Saints are turning a page — and it won’t be easy. A franchise that was known for their struggles (even being called the ‘Aints’ at different points in time) completely turned around when Sean Payton was hired as the head coach and Brees signed on as the quarterback.
They would surely like another run with him under center, but we will give that one time to breathe before saying he needs to be brought back. As for the 2021 roster, New Orleans has a quarterback under contract who led the NFL in passing yards in 2019, Jameis Winston.
A former No. 1 overall pick, Winston had 5,109 yards with 33 touchdowns for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The problem is, he had 30 interceptions as well. Working with Payton should help him cut down on the picks and assuming he beats out Taysom Hill, Winston should be able to put points up with this offense.
He could do even more if they had a second wide receiver capable of putting up big numbers across from Michael Thomas. They had this in 2020 with Emmanuel Sanders but due to injuries, they never really had a full complement of weapons, and Sanders was released in a cap-savings cut.
This leads to us choosing Joe Horn as the returning star. Horn spent seven of his 12 NFL seasons in New Orleans and had 7,622 yards and 50 touchdowns in that span. He also brought a lot of charisma and confidence to the offense with his personality, which could help them as they look for their post-Brees identity.