Saints coaching carousel

After a 2-0 start and averaging 45.5 points per game, the Saints have now lost seven straight and the last coming to the 1-7 Panthers was the last straw for Dennis Allen’s tenure in New Orleans.

Saints named special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi as the interim head coach.

Allen had a measly 18-25 record in his two and a half year stint as the Saints head coach. He had no playoff appearances in that time.

In 2022 and 2023, he saw strength in his defense with a top 10 defense in yards and points in 2022 and ranked top 13 in yards and points in 2023.

2024 was his downfall, with a mediocre offense all three years except a top 10 offense in points in 2023, his strength in defense fell off being bottom six in both yards and points.

Since the loss of Sean Payton, the Saints have never looked the same. Allen was not given a favorable hand with limited cap space, a very old team, and very few young, promising, players.

Since Allen took over, the Saints have been bottom 10 in cap space and top 15 in dead cap in all three years. The Saints are big on “kicking the can down the road” on players contracts. When signing contracts they add years of “dummy years” to avoid paying big money up front.

With the firing of Allen, the Saints are in desperate need of a full rebuild. While the Saints look to be in cap constraint for the foreseeable future, they will be dependent on a lot of good drafting and young talent carrying the team.

They have a good young corps on their offensive line, a solid duo at wide receiver with Chris Olave and Rasheed Shaheed and rookie Kool-Aid McKinstry leads the secondary now with Marshon Lattimore on the Commanders.

The front office is a little tied up with young players though as these guys are going to have to start getting paid in the upcoming years.

They need to start trading away old pieces such as Cam Jordan, Demario Davis and Alvin Kamara for draft capital. Davis and Kamara, who both seem to never age, can demand a decent return.

They need to turn over the team from Derek Carr to a young quarterback who will be the future. Carr has not proven any success in New Orleans despite a 34/12 touchdown/interception ratio, he is 11-12 as the starter.

The Saints will have to look at what the Panthers are doing now with being patient with a young coach. As long as they will keep patience and not expect a Super Bowl appearance in the next five years.

The Saints need to avoid thinking they can win now while looking for a big ticket name such as Bill Belichick, Robert Saleh or Mike Vrabel.

The best option would be a new coach that the players can grow with, such as the offensive coordinator from Houston or Detroit, Bobby Slowik or Ben Johnson. Both of those coordinators would be a first time head coach, with a lot of first time NFL players.

The future looks gloomy in New Orleans, and this carousel looks like it will keep running, barring strong decisions from the front office.

Tristan Kunec is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email tqk5432@psu.edu.