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Projecting New Orleans Saints skill position depth chart and fantasy impact

The Saints start a new franchise chapter with Drew Brees’ retirement. How will his absence impact the fantasy football fate of their offense?

By Chet Gresham
Quarterback Jameis Winston #2 of the New Orleans Saints shares a smile as he greets teammate quarterback Taysom Hill #7 during the second half of their game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on January 03, 2021 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

The New Orleans Saints have made the playoffs the last four seasons, but have a 3-4 record during that span. Soon to be Hall-of-Fame quarterback Drew Brees has retired and the team will turn to Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill to lead them in 2021. Head coach Sean Payton keeps winning no matter who his quarterback is, but he’ll now need to do that for 17 games.

Quarterback

  1. Jameis Winston
  2. Taysom Hill
  3. Ian Book
  4. Trevor Siemian

Running back

  1. Alvin Kamara
  2. Latavius Murray
  3. Dwayne Washington
  4. Ty Montgomery

Wide receiver

  1. Michael Thomas
  2. Tre’Quan Smith
  3. Marquez Callaway
  4. Deonte Harris
  5. Juwan Johnson
  6. Kawaan Baker
  7. Lil’Jordan Humphrey

Tight end

  1. Adam Trautman
  2. Nick Vannett
  3. Garrett Griffin

Biggest offseason changes

Drew Brees is gone and Jameis Winston is the favorite to start while Taysom Hill will come in and do the stuff he does. They also let Emmanuel Sanders and Jared Cook go in free agency. That leaves second-year tight end Adam Trautman as a starting tight end and a yet to be named wide receiver as WR2.

Biggest questions for fantasy football

Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas are two of the top fantasy players in the league, and they should continue to be high upside plays as long as they can stay healthy with big usage. There’s just nobody else on the team who will compete with these two for touches. Efficiency will go down with Winston at the helm most likely, but that still shouldn’t keep Thomas and Kamara from getting their fantasy points.

Training camp will help sort out the wide receivers a bit, but Tre’Quan Smith is the most-likely to win the WR2 job coming out of camp. But there is room for just about any of these receivers moving up the depth chart.

After Kamara and Thomas, Trautman may have the best job security with Jared Cook gone. But he’s still very much a wild card, as is this offense as a whole. He’ll be worth drafting, but I’ll likely pass unless it’s a 2TE league.

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