The New Orleans Saints Latest Playoff Loss Is Just the Beginning of a Major Disaster
The New Orleans Saints just had another playoff meltdown. Quarterback Drew Brees likely just played his last game in the NFL. That’s nothing compared to what’s on the horizon for the football team.
The Saints had more playoff heartbreak Sunday
Although it wasn’t as dramatic a playoff loss as the New Orleans Saints have experienced in recent years, it still hurt. The Saints saw their 2020 season come to an end at the hands of Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. The second-seeded Saints fell at home, 30-20.
The loss was the fourth straight year the Saints suffered a painful postseason loss. The Saints have lost their last three playoff games at home. In 2018 and 2019, New Orleans fell in overtime. Last year, the Saints were stunned in the wild-card round, falling 26-20 to the Minnesota Vikings. In 2018, they lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the infamous pass-interference non-call game.
In January of 2018 (2017 season), the Saints were beaten on the final play of the game against the Minnesota Vikings. Vikings quarterback Case Keenum hit Stefon Diggs with a 61-yard touchdown pass with no time left on the clock in a 29-24 Vikings win.
Drew Brees might be calling it a career
Not only did the New Orleans Saints lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, but they may also have lost their veteran quarterback Drew Brees. Brees has been in the NFL for 20 years, the last 15 with the Saints. He’s a future Hall-of-Famer, and speculation has been Brees might be calling it a career after this year.
If Sunday’s game was the final of Brees’ career, he didn’t go out with a bang. Brees struggled mightily. He finished 19-for-34 passing for 134 yards. He threw three interceptions and had a touchdown pass.
Brees’ tough game certainly won’t tarnish his career. If it is over, Brees finished his illustrious career with better than 80,000 passing yards and 571 touchdown passes in the regular season. He’s a 13-time Pro Bowler and a Super Bowl champion.
Things are about to get much worse for the Saints
The ending of the 2020 season was difficult for the New Orleans Saints, but it’s only the beginning of what’s expected to be a disastrous upcoming year. According to CBS Sports, the Saints are facing a salary-cap crisis that’s expected to drastically alter the franchise.
For the 2021 season, experts are predicting the NFL salary cap will be roughly $185 million. If that’s the case, the Saints are $81 million over that number right now. Several GMs told CBS Sports they don’t believe the cap will be much higher than $175 million, which would put the Saints $91 million over. That means the Saints will need to significantly alter their roster.
“Man, I don’t know what they do after this,” one cap manager said. “This is about as bad as anything I have seen. They are really all-in with no wiggle room.” The Saints need to quickly get over this season-ending loss and work on re-shuffling their roster.
