INDIANAPOLIS — Kellen Moore’s second offseason with the New Orleans Saints has been a lot less hectic than the first.
Without the whirlwind of winning the Super Bowl in his future home city, finalizing a coaching staff and then sprinting to the offseason, Moore has finally had time to take a breath — and can put his energy into different projects.
After the Senior Bowl, for instance, Moore met with college scouting director Jeff Ireland and his staff to begin a deep dive on the prospects for the upcoming NFL draft. As a former coordinator, Moore would usually wait to dig into the draft until after he completed his free agency evaluations.
“I’ve already gotten the first lap, first impression for all these draft-eligible guys,” Moore said.
Moore is now making another lap this week at the scouting combine, where he has sat in on prospect meetings to collect additional information.
In between, he made time to speak with reporters. Here’s what stood out from the session.
Helping Shough
Moore knows the Saints have to run the ball better in 2026.
That was among the glaring issues Moore noticed during a thorough review of his first season. The Saints failed to have a 500-yard rusher for the first time since 1998, the year before they gave up the farm for Ricky Williams. Moore said they have to be better on first and second down, so that can open up explosive plays. He stressed improving in the red zone and in short-yardage when it comes to the run, too.
But any changes will be made with quarterback Tyler Shough in mind, with the goal of building around him for Year 2.
“Any offense is going to be steered by the quarterback position,” Moore said. “Once that narrows its focus, it allows me to be a lot more specific as what you want to do. That’ll be a full offseason journey. I’m excited about that just from Tyler’s perspect, just to be able to go through a full offseason, go through in his training camp and clean up the system and narrow our focus.”
Free agents TBD
Moore was asked repeatedly about the Saints’ key free agents, such as cornerback Alontae Taylor, linebacker Demario Davis and defensive end Cam Jordan. But Moore kept close to the vest how the Saints will approach each of those decisions
“Those are obviously conversations that Mickey’s having with those guys just to see where they’re at first and foremost,” Moore said, referring to general manager Mickey Loomis. “All those guys we love to death, and we’d love to keep as many of these guys as we possibly can.
“We’ll let that process take care of itself.”
That includes running back Alvin Kamara, who technically isn’t a free agent but has an $18 million cap hit that looms large over next season.
Moore didn’t indicate whether the Saints would ask him to take a paycut or consider moving on, but did note it was unfortunate that Kamara missed the last six games with a knee injury.
“Our team was finally starting to play a little bit better collectively (and) I think he would have reaped some benefits from that,” Moore said.
Kamara finished with a career low 471 rushing yards and his 3.6 yards per carry average before the injury was also a personal worst.
Getting the band back together?
Because he’s been an offensive coordinator at three stops before landing in New Orleans, Moore has overlap with some notable players who are set to be free agents.
The 37-year-old, for example, coached tight end Dallas Goedert and running back Kenneth Gainwell in Philadelphia. He worked with Chargers guard Zion Johnson in Los Angeles and Chargers guard Mekhi Becton in Philadelphia. Even smaller pieces like wide receiversJalen Tolbert (Dallas) and Jahan Dotson (Philadelphia) crossed paths with the coach.
Moore couldn’t speak about any specific of those individuals because they’re still under contract.
But generally, is he a fan of getting the band back together?
“It’s a good question,” Moore said. “I think there’s value in just having people that are familiar with a system or familiarity with yourself on a personal level, but I don’t think it’s the necessary thing.
“Especially now, the rest of the team we’ve been invested with over a year. More than anything, when you have coaches who have worked with those guys (before), you just have a better understanding probably who you’re getting and what their strengths are and how they’ll fit into the culture of the team.”
Moore’s first year saw the Saints bring in tight end Jack Stoll and wide receiver Brandin Cooks to help others acclimate to his offense. And on defense, defensive end Chris Rumph, defensive tackle Jonah Williams and safety Terrell Burgess reunited with defensive coordinator Brandon Staley.
But those were smaller-scale moves that hardly encompassed New Orleans’ offseason approach, which involved signing safety Justin Reid, trading for defensive tackle Davon Godchaux and re-upping defensive end Chase Young and tight end Juwan Johnson.
A mix of the two strategies again makes sense for Moore’s second season.