It is safe to say that the New Orleans Saints were a defensive team in 2025. The defense finished in the middle of the league in total defense, while the offense was one of the lower ranked units in the NFL.
Considering the Saints feature an offensive-minded head coach, the expectation is for them to field an effective offense. The problem with that expectation in 2025 was simple: they just didn’t have enough weapons on offense to make it happen.
The Saints finished 28th in scoring offense, averaging just 18 points per game. They also ranked 24th in total offense, finishing with 5,331 total yards.
To put that into perspective, Drew Brees threw for 5,476 passing yards by himself in 2011, while that Saints offense accumulated 7,474 total yards. Now, that was one of the most prolific offensive performances in NFL history, but the fact that a quarterback once threw for more yards than the entire 2025 Saints offense produced collectively is a major indictment of what that season was offensively.
This upcoming season can be summed up in one line: there’s nowhere to go but up.
The entire offense was built around getting younger, faster, and more explosive. The Saints added multiple big-play threats in Jordyn Tyson, Bryce Lance, Barion Brown, and, of course, Travis Etienne Jr.
The Saints were plagued by slow starts and an inability to run the football. To address those issues, they filled a major need on the interior offensive line by bringing in David Edwards. They also bolstered the tight end room with the additions of Noah Fant and Oscar Delp.
Let’s not forget the emergence of Tyler Shough.
Shough started nine games for the Saints and finished with just over 2,400 passing yards, 10 touchdowns, and five interceptions. But it isn’t the entire nine-game sample that should excite Saints fans. The final five games showed not only improvement from Shough but also an offense that finally began putting points on the board.
The team’s season average of 18 points per game increased to 24.8 points per game over those final five contests. More importantly, that production came while the Saints were dealing with significant injuries at running back, along the offensive line, and at wide receiver.
The young additions across the roster should help elevate the offense, but pairing them with an emerging young quarterback could be what truly unlocks this unit. The Saints now have the potential to become a fully complementary offense capable of attacking defenses at every level of the field and in a variety of ways.
If everything comes together, this could be a very explosive offense by the end of the season.