The new NFL season lies just around the corner, meaning the fantasy football news cycle cranks up and hype trains begin to leave the station.
New Orleans, Louisiana hosted Super Bowl LIX back in February, but the Saints were nowhere near as they were left watching from their couches following a 5-12 campaign. The team faces salary cap constraints and an aging roster as well as serious questions at quarterback, but they did hire one of the top coaching candidates on the market to take the reins of the franchise. As we head into 2025, what does the future hold for their fantasy football assets?
Will Alvin Kamara continue to defy the running back age cliff? Can Chris Olave stay healthy and finally live up to his upside? Find all the answers below!
How will a new head coach impact the Saints?
New Orleans’ front office developed a habit of kicking the can down the road over the last couple of seasons as far as contracts and guaranteed money go. Well, that practice may start showing its ugly side over the coming year as the Saints remain in salary cap hell with limited resources to add significant improvements through free agency. With that said, they’re running things back with a very similar core on offense, but the player under center and coach calling the plays are both different this time around.
No shade to former head coach Dennis Allen, who’s a perfectly-good coordinator with a bad reputation at the helm of a franchise. However, this organization landed a massive upgrade in Kellen Moore, a young offensive guru who engineered some of the NFL’s top attacks over the last several seasons.
As a former star quarterback in college for Boise State, Moore sees the field through the eyes of a signal-caller. He played played six seasons of NFL ball for the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys before joining the latter team as its quarterbacks coach in 2018, but he was quickly promoted to offensive coordinator the following year and spent four seasons in that role. He received some interest for head coach positions from other teams but never emerged with those jobs, and eventually parted ways with Dallas in a mutual split. Moore spent one year as OC with the Los Angeles Chargers before taking the same role with the Philadelphia Eagles last season — of course, he helped lead that team to a Super Bowl victory at his future home stadium in New Orleans.
Moore’s offenses saw plenty of success, ranking seventh or better in scoring four times over his seven seasons as an offensive coordinator. His Cowboys attacks were elite more often than not, finishing worse than 11th in yardage and sixth in scoring just once (which came in 2020 when quarterback Dak Prescott missed most of the season). His brief tenure with the Chargers was less-than spectacular, but the Eagles ranked eighth in yardage and seventh in scoring last season.
Typically, the 36-year-old’s attack is based more on personnel than a set philosophy. With a still-young Ezekiel Elliot in 2019, the Cowboys ranked eighth in rush attempts, then sixth in 2022 with Tony Pollard coming off a career-best season in a part-time role. However, Moore’s 2020 and 2021 Dallas teams both finished top-six in pass attempts with CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup catching passes. While the Chargers leaned heavily on the pass with the third-most attempts in the coordinator’s lone season there, his Eagles attack finished first in rush attempts and dead-last in passes thrown.
To be clear, Moore doesn’t have an elite quarterback or top-tier weapons on offense like he did at any of his prior stops. With that in mind, it’s best to temper expectations for the actual statistical output of the Saints this year, especially with inexperienced players under center regardless of who emerges as the starting signal-caller. The fantasy numbers may look a smidge ugly in 2025 on a week-to-week basis, but building the framework for the future remains the priority in New Orleans at the moment.
Fantasy star fallout
Quarterback
Tyler Shough
The Saints’ quarterback situation seems treacherous both for fantasy purposes and real-world NFL games. Incumbent Spencer Rattler didn’t show much in a limited sample last season and they drafted Tyler Shough in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Through most of training camp, they seem locked in a tight competition, but it makes sense to assume the new staff’s draftee will take the starting job.
Shough’s college career was a lengthy one that spanned six years, but he never started more than seven games in a season until his final campaign. At Louisville last year, Shough completed 62.7% of his passes for 3,195 yards, 23 touchdowns and just six interceptions. With 266.3 yards per game and a career-best interception percentage, he showed enough to spark at least a little bit of intrigue.
However, Shough doesn’t seem like a player who inspires a ton of confidence at the professional level. He’s an older prospect and only had one truly impressive college campaign, if you can even call it that. Since Shough brings little upside with his legs, he’ll need a truly special rookie campaign in a questionable offense to really shine. He’s a stash pick, but certainly not a starter.
Running backs
Alvin Kamara
There’s only one player on this roster fantasy players can truly feel confident relying on as a week-in, week-out starter. Alvin Kamara just turned 30 years old in July but keeps producing elite outputs in fantasy each season, so there’s reason to believe he continues to defy the age cliff in 2025.
The nine-year veteran hasn’t ever rushed for 1,000 yards in a single season, but he always puts up numbers regardless of his total production on the ground. Kamara only has one season with fewer than 17.8 FPPG, which came in 2022. With seven finishes inside the top-12 overall PPR running backs, the dynamic threat always makes magic happen. Just last year, he set a new career-high with 950 rushing yards while catching 68 passes for 543 receiving yards. Kamara also scored eight total touchdowns on a poor offense, averaging 18.9 FPPG to finish as the overall RB9 and per-game RB5.
As the best player on an offense with inexperienced quarterbacks, Kamara should see plenty of work this season. The Saints will almost certainly run the ball plenty, and barring injury the rock will end up in Kamara’s hands. With his skill set as a pass catcher to work with checkdown passes and his projected volume, Kamara looks like a stud for at least one more year.
Wide receivers
Chris Olave
This team’s top wideout is one of the most frustrating players in the league from a fantasy football perspective. Chris Olave possesses all the talent in the world and puts it on display when he’s on the gridiron, but it seems every time he gets going, something happens to derail the young wideout. Perhaps moreso than opposing defensive backs, the 25-year-old’s body remains his own worst enemy.
Olave produced 13.2 FPPG as a rookie in 2022 and the average ticked up to 14.5 FPPG in 2023 while producing at a WR2 level with a WR1 ceiling. Much like his Ohio State counterparts at the position across the NFL landscape, he produced multiple seasons of 1,000+ yards to begin his career and flashed tons of upside with a high target rate and crafty route-running. However, probably needs a Guardian Cap at this rate after sustaining multiple concussions in his three seasons and missing 11 games last year. Granted, Olave only averaged 9.6 FPPG last year and caught 32 of 44 targets for 400 yards and one touchdown, so volume was an issue even before the injuries.
Still, Olave graded out 18th among all wideouts in PFF receiving grade even with his poor fantasy production last season. We’ve seen him finish as the overall WR25 and WR16 in his first two campaigns, so there’s a usable starter here when healthy. The Saints’ questionable quarterback room does raise some red flags, but this feels like a case where volume among a thin receiver room helps Olave’s case on a bad offense. He won’t have a ton of scoring opportunities and may have a shaky week-to-week floor, but if he gets force-fed looks (he garnered 138 targets in 2023), Moore’s offense can ensure he’s a high-upside FLEX play at absolute worst with room for more.
Rashid Shaheed
One of the most fun players to emerge in the opening weeks of the 2024 season, Rashid Shaheed popped off for the Saints while hauling in passes from Derek Carr. A stellar return man on special teams, the 6-foot wideout originally signed with the team as an undrafted free agent during the 2022 offseason. While he didn’t do much on offense as a rookie, he began to show signs of life in year two.
Shaheed averaged 10.0 FPPG in 2023 and caught 46 of 75 targets for 719 yards and five scores. He was on pace to break those marks last season through his six appearances with 20 catches on 41 targets for 349 yards and three scores, a line which earned him 12.6 FPPG. Shaheed posted at least 16.3 points in four of his first five games, two of which came on long-ball touchdowns while two others were higher-volume affairs with 11 and nine targets. He looked like a legitimate FLEX play in most league formats and was positioned for a true breakout campaign.
Unfortunately Shaheed then underwent season-ending knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus suffered in Week 7, cutting his hot start short. With plenty of time to rehab from that procedure, the 26-year-old should feel healthy heading into 2025. However, he won’t see the same deep-ball accuracy that his former quarterback delivered and would likely need high volume to become a consistent contributor, which likely won’t happen unless Olave misses time. That’s a distinct possibility though and Shaheed can probably slot into lineups in a pinch, so he’s likely a depth add for the time being.
Tight end
Juwan Johnson
This veteran tight end doesn’t reach star caliber, but it’s still worth analyzing what lies in store for Juwan Johnson. New Orleans’ top player at the position appeared in all 17 games last season and caught 50 of 66 targets for 548 yards and three touchdowns, but he averaged just 7.2 FPPG and was hardly a usable starter in most weeks. The Saints did extend him on a three-year, $30.75 million contract, so it looks like he’s a locked-in option for this offense in 2025 and even beyond. However, the former-wideout-turned-tight-end was hardly relevant even while Olave and Shaheed missed time last season, so banking on him to emerge as a fantasy asset in year six doesn’t feel like a good bet, even with better coaching.
Fringe names to watch
Taysom Hill provided some wild weeks in fantasy football over the last several campaigns while playing a position best labeled “football player.” He held a tight end designation on the virtual gridiron last season while lining up all over the field. The veteran rushed 39 times for 278 yards and six touchdowns, including a massive 41.5-point outing with 138 yards and three scores on just seven carries. He also hauled in 23 of 31 targets for 187 scoreless yards, averaging a career-best 12.8 FPPG. He finished as the per-game TE6 but overall TE26 after tearing his ACL in Week 13 and missing multiple games before that. It’s a horrific injury, especially for a 34-year-old who relied on his athleticism so much. With an uncertain future, Hill’s a fade even at cheap cost.
Brandin Cooks is yet another recognizable name who should probably be faded to the waiver wire. The 31-year-old returned to the team that drafted him this offseason, but a storybook arc feels unlikely after Cooks tallied fewer than 700 yards in each of his last three seasons and only caught 26 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games last season with the Cowboys. He deserves his flowers for his career, but the quarterback play and likely-low passing volume mean Cooks’ best days are likely behind him after averaging a career-low 7.0 FPPG last season.
Finally we have the halfbacks. Incumbent backup Kendre Miller was a third-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft but appeared in just 14 games over his first two seasons. He’s seen just 80 carries in his career, taking those for 304 yards and two scores. Miller can’t seem to stay healthy and he was drafted by the prior regime, so he may not land in their favor despite Moore’s comments that the former TCU standout is a blank slate in his eyes. Yet he may still be worth rostering as a handcuff to Kamara just in case.
The true sleeper pick for those who don’t believe in Miller’s ability is sixth-round rookie Devin Neal. Taken out of Kansas, the 5-foot-11, 213-pound runner rushed for 1,000 yards or more in each of the last three seasons with the Jayhawks, also producing 16 touchdowns in 2023 and 2023. He’s obviously talented and showed it in the Big 12, so beating out Miller may not be the toughest challenge. He’s a potential stash pick at very cheap cost.
