NFL 2023: Predicting the starting QB for all 32 teams pre-NFL Free Agency

New Orleans Saints: Baker Mayfield (replacing Andy Dalton)

Possible backup options: Jameis Winston, Andy Dalton, Teddy Bridgewater, Hendon Hooker

New Orleans Saints fans are probably sick of building bridges at this point, but that’s where this franchise is at right now.

One bridge QB after the next.

Although the Saints have been in the reclamation and retread market for a few years now, I think we might see them go after someone in the 2023 NFL Draft with some upside. Someone like a Hendon Hooker who may not contribute immediately, but could work well in the future. Maybe you see them go after Stanford’s Tanner McKee, a name rising lately in the NFL Draft community.

Why don’t the Saints have a top-10 draft pick this year? Because of a horrendous trade made in the 2022 NFL Draft by GM Mickey Loomis. You know how you can buy gift cards at Costco for slightly less than the gift card is actually worth? That’s kind of what Mickey Loomis let Howie Roseman do last year. Except instead of getting a $50 Olive Garden gift card for $45, Howie Roseman is getting a top-10 pick in 2023. Hopefully that made sense to someone other than me.

Loomis traded a mid-first-round pick in 2022 and a 2023 1st-round pick for two mid-first-round picks in 2022. That 2023 pick ended up being 10th overall, which the Saints could now be using, obviously, to address this QB situation.

You get Baker Mayfield as a penalty.

But seriously, if the Saints don’t get Derek Carr, what are they supposed to do? They have to do something, and getting into the mix for 2024 QBs might be the long game. The question is — does Dennis Allen have that long of a leash? Kind of a bad situation for this team.