I'd like to get something with a little more reach on a budget. I can get inside games and baseball close to the action. But I'd like to be able to get more during the day. Any suggestion as to which is sharper?
10. 2019 New Orleans Saints (35.5% DVOA)
13-3, lost in NFC wild-card round 26-20 to Vikings
New Orleans finished first or second in total DVOA for four straight seasons from 2017 to 2020, winning at least 11 games in each. Quarterback Drew Brees and Michael Thomas led the No. 4 offense by DVOA in 2019, and Cameron Jordan and Demario Davis led the No. 6 defense.
We don't remember the 2019 team's playoff loss as well as we remember some of the other Saints playoff losses from this run. This season wasn't the missed pass interference call against the Rams or the "Minneapolis Miracle," although the Vikings were involved.
The Vikings ranked seventh in DVOA that season and took a 20-10 third-quarter lead over the Saints in New Orleans. The Saints came back, first with a 20-yard Brees touchdown pass to Taysom Hill and then with a 49-yard Wil Lutz field goal with seven seconds left. But the Vikings won the coin toss in overtime and marched 75 yards down the field. A 4-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Kyle Rudolph ended the Saints' season.
Even I forgot they were 13-3 that season.
Preseason is a brutal maid.
Per Rod Walker:
The two most talked-about moves the New Orleans Pelicans have made this offseason are the hiring of a new head coach and parting ways with their longtime equipment manager.
Outside of that, things have been much quieter than you would expect for a team that finished just 26-56.
The Pelicans were one of eight NBA teams that didn’t reach 30 wins.
The other seven (Dallas, Memphis, Sacramento, Utah, Brooklyn, Indiana and Washington) all added pieces this offseason, with first-round draft picks or via trades and free agency.
The Pelicans, meanwhile, haven’t moved the needle.
Other than re-signing barely used veteran center DeAndre Jordan (brought back more for his leadership) and selecting former St. Augustine High standout Jaron Pierre in the second round of the draft, the Pels have stood still. The lack of moves comes as a surprise, especially after executive vice-president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said at season’s end that he would like to add some “toughness” to the roster. Almost four months later, not much has been added. Not that Dumars hasn’t tried.
“We were engaged in a lot of conversations with a lot of different teams,” Dumars said Friday in an interview with The Times-Picayune. “But at the end of the day, you’ve got to make a determination if this is the right deal or not. You don’t want to make a move for the sake of making a move. It has to be right for us.”
The phone calls to and from Dumars’ phone were steady throughout the summer.
“When you’re presented with deals that you can do, you’ve got to make a determination if this is going to make you better and add what you need,” Dumars said. “The lack of moves being made right now is not from a lack of effort or us deciding we didn’t want to do anything. We’ve engaged with a lot of teams this offseason. But there was just no big deal that I felt was going to make us better for us to pull the trigger on.”
Some of those trade possibilities came around the draft in June. The Pelicans didn’t have a first-round pick because of the trade in the 2025 draft when they moved up to select forward Derik Queen. Dumars hinted in April that the team could try to move into the first round this year. But unlike 2025, they didn’t make any moves.
“We certainly could have got into the first round,” Dumars said. “But the price was too steep to do it. That’s where discipline comes in. It’s appealing sometimes to say you can get into the first round. But at what cost? Then you have to look at where you’re getting your pick at. Last year we moved into the lottery and got Queen. I thought it was worth it. This year, where we would have landed in the first round wouldn’t have been worth giving up what we had to give up.”
The Pels’ offseason silence has led to plenty of noise for a frustrated fanbase. Social media has been flooded with trade rumors involving the Pelicans all summer long. Fans debated every trade they saw on their timeline. Even the ones that had no validity to them. But that’s to be expected when a team comes off back-to-back non-playoff seasons. Most fans, starving to see a winning product, wanted to see something. Anything.
But Dumars says he never got one of those offers you can’t refuse. Instead, he stuck to his principles.
“You have to be disciplined in these seats,” Dumars said. “You can’t be emotional. You can’t take things personal. You have to be real disciplined in what you’re doing.”
The Pelicans could still add pieces. They need to. Rim protection and rebounding help and more reliable shooters should still be high on Dumars’ list of priorities. But as of now, the roster looks almost exactly like it did four months ago. Dumars’ message to the fans who frown at the thought of the Pelicans just running it back with the same squad?
“I think if we are healthy, we have a good roster,” Dumars said. “I believe in the players we have. But two things can be true at the same time. You can believe in your roster and you can continue to look to get better. So that’s what I’m doing. I believe in the roster, but I’m still looking for us to get better.”
If Dumars doesn’t find what he’s looking for, it’ll be up to Mosley to do with this roster what former coach Willie Green and interim coach James Borrego were unable to do these past two seasons: make the Pelicans tougher, both mentally and physically.
There is some promise in the social media videos of players like Zion Williamson, Queen, Jeremiah Fears, Trey Murphy and Dejounte Murray working out this offseason. But the work those players are putting in has to transfer over to games.
“I’m really happy with the approach of all of our guys during the offseason,” Dumars said. “The players committed to going into the offseason and taking their conditioning and work to another level. And I think that’s what you have been able to witness with all these videos.”
Williamson, who will return for his eighth season, remains the key to it all. Dumars said in April that he wants to see Williamson play under Mosley. Williamson played in 62 games last season, the second most of his career. Any chance the Pelicans have of making the playoffs will once again rest on his shoulders.
Dumars’ message to Williamson has been simple: “To be great, you have to be obsessed with this,” he told Williamson. “You can’t casually become great in this league. What I’ve seen from him this summer is he’s obsessed with the work he’s putting in. And that is really encouraging for me that he’s putting this type of work in.”
Dumars says he’s seen it from the rest of the roster, too.
“Every one of them,” Dumars said. “Queen is working like he’s never worked before. Fears is working like that. Trey. Herb (Jones). Saddiq (Bey). All of them are working their butts off. That’s encouraging for me that these guys have become that obsessed with working this summer.”
But are those guys who have won just 47 total games the past two seasons enough?
Season 2 of the Dumars era will answer that.
Dumars spent his first year in New Orleans assessing the franchise from top to bottom. That assessment led to several changes in the building. He’s brought in new personnel like Amanda Green to handle analytics and David Cosgrave to oversee health and performance. He’s hoping those types of moves will point the franchise in a new direction.
Inevitably though, success will be determined by the players on the roster. At least for now, it’ll be the same players from a season ago.
“We have really good talent on our team and if we can stay healthy, we have a competitive team,” Dumars said. “Making a move for the sake of making a move doesn’t make you better. You have to evaluate your team and decide whether a move is warranted or not, or if it’s a move that’s going to make you better or not. Making a bad move may satisfy something short-term, but it doesn’t make your team better.”
These are from Athletic tiers. He was tied for 26th at start of season, firmly in Tier 3.
Executives and offensive coaches were highest on Shough, who far outpaced the other first-year quarterbacks in EPA per pass play after becoming the Saints’ starter in Week 9 as a rookie. Shough ranked 14th among 34 qualifying quarterbacks over that span.
“The combination of his toughness to hang in there and let the deeper routes develop, his ability to go through his reads and then his mobility was impressive,” an opposing coach said. “And it wasn't like he had a Ben Roethlisberger rookie season where he's able to just not screw it up. He was kind of carrying those guys.”
Shough’s Tier 4 votes were mostly from voters who had not faced him or had scarcely seen him across his nine starts.
“I liked him when I watched him,” a defensive coach said. “I hope he’s not a 2 by the time we play them. He’s a 3 at least, already. He’s a dude.”
Voters who saw Shough generally liked what they saw.
“Because of his age (27 in September), he’s seen it, he’s relaxed, he’s poised,” a former GM said. “He was already used to learning different offenses and new systems and battling back from injuries. Older, more mature, had his life skills in order. I think all that translated well.”
Finally getting the books back in order will be crucial. Sure, there will be adjustments in the next 12 months, but I cannot recall not having significant dead cap space for at least 2 years in advance.
TLDR; he's the point guard for the offense but he has to get better on secondary reads and not take as many sacks. Plenty of stats in there to back this up. Bright side: OL back and healthy and addition of playmakers at RB and TE.
I've tried on multiple browsers. It's been doing this for a couple of weeks. Thanks.
It’s the end of July and LBJ finally went to Philly. A couple of remaining dominoes have yet to drop, but will in due time: Harden to Cavs, Watson and Duren RFA being resolved with possible qualifying offers and hopefully the Kuminga saga coming to an end. Where does that leave the home team? Are they really sitting pat this offseason? Will they pull the trigger on something come training camp? There have certainly been worst off seasons, but this has been the most bizarre. Maybe we’re all used to knee jerk moves to win now and then they lose later. A season ticket rep called me (made the mistake of asking for a Squadron yard sign) and I replied exactly what was I going to buy into this season? A new coach?
Unless they get involved some kind of way with the RFAs or any other potential moves, are they really going to run it back? I know I’m not the first one to ask, but there’s not many options left to make any moves.
I shoot youth sports, mainly baseball, flag football and soccer. Sometimes I get dance, cheer and ballet. I know the aperture ain’t perfect, but can this work better during day?
Lots of discussion occurs on here concerning the ceiling of Shough. As we are well aware, Shough is no spring chicken compared to other NFL QBs. But when do QBs generally reach their peak? Jacob Robinson of Athletic penned an article last week. Let's explore.
In order to quantify, they used Pro Football Reference's useful tool: Approximate Value, or AV. It measures each NFL player’s contributions to his team, calculated based a mix of team success and individual stats, balanced across positions. (Notably, Jahri Evans 2011 season was the highest ranked guard AV in history alongside Randall McDaniel). See below for Quarterbacks:
As such, Quarterbacks often peak between 29 and 33.
In order to see where Shough would fit on this list with his peers, here is a list of all starting QBs with age heading into next season:
43Aaron Rodgers (PIT)
38Matthew Stafford (LAR)
36Geno Smith (NYJ)
34Jacoby Brissett (ARI)
33Dak Prescott (DAL)
32Jared Goff (DET)
31Patrick Mahomes (KC), Baker Mayfield (TB), Deshaun Watson (CLE)
30Josh Allen (BUF), Joe Burrow (CIN)
29Lamar Jackson (BAL), Sam Darnold (SEA), Daniel Jones (IND), Kyler Murray (MIN)
28Justin Herbert (LAC), Jalen Hurts (PHI), Jordan Love (GB)
27Trevor Lawrence (JAX), Brock Purdy (SF), Tyler Shough (NO), Malik Willis (MIA)
26Bo Nix (DEN), Jayden Daniels (WAS), Michael Penix (ATL)
25Caleb Williams (CHI), C.J. Stroud (HOU), Bryce Young (CAR)
24Drake Maye (NE), Cam Ward (TEN), Jaxson Dart (NYG)
23Fernando Mendoza (LV)
We obviously don't need to look at anyone in their mid 30s. Mostly everyone in their 30s on the above list has been in NFL for close to a decade. The 30 year olds, Allen and Burrow, have an MVP and SB appearance between them. They too have been in the NFL for a number of years.
But let's look at the guys aged 27-29. You have SB winners, participants, SB MVPs, MVP awards, and multiple pro bowls. Almost every QB in this range is the franchise QB and the teams are built around them. Indeed, those teams' seasons would be drastically different without. These guys are generally on the periphery of that peak/prime age.
However, Shough and Willis are really the only ones that have not played in playoff or any games of magnitude. Willis has been in the league for some time and resurrected his career enough to get the bag from Miami. Shough is the only 2nd year player of the bunch and only one on his rookie contract.
The players younger than Shough are an assortment of recent draft picks and a single rookie. Only Penix, Ward and Dart haven't taken their teams to the playoffs. (Let's be honest, Penix isn't going to do shit). Ward and Dart are coming off rookie seasons with teams that are rebuilding (just like Shough). However, they are three years younger than Shough.
In this exercise, we are showing that Shough is a lot closer to his peak/prime than any other QB. Other than Willis, who is a reclamation project, the people in his range of 27-29 all have substantial playoff accolades other than Murray and Jones, who have even played in pro bowls. A majority of the QBs younger than him have achieved team and individual success, and those that were drafted in his draft class are are 5 years away from the prime/peak era to just 2 for Shough.
Is it possible Shough reaches his prime and stays in it longer? Sure. But the numbers suggest that after next year we're about to see the prime of Shough. We should not expect a substantial improvement at his age 32 season considering his peers his age have already achieved so much and his peers in experience are notably younger.
As such, I maintain that Shough is much closer to his ceiling based on the data. This season will show if Moore believes that as well, because every position on the offense was bolstered to give Shough every weapon needed to succeed. He goes out and throws 4,800 yards and 36 TDs either this year, next or both, he's a franchise QB. He goes into 2028 and he cannot eclipse his peers in age and experience, we should reasonably expect him to a near-finished product.
On Athletic:
It’s difficult to grade what the Pelicans have done this summer because, well, they haven’t done anything. The only transaction New Orleans has pulled off since the start of free agency is bringing back locker-room leader DeAndre Jordan on a one-year veteran’s minimum. Although Jordan is clearly past his prime as an on-court contributor, his presence in the locker room was incredibly important for some of the young players on the Pels’ roster. Much of the basketball world has been anticipating a New Orleans trade involving sharpshooting wing Trey Murphy III, but the Pels front office has stood strong on its high asking price. While some may criticize this decision, I say holding on to a player with Murphy’s value when he still has three years left on his contract is the only sensible decision to make. But New Orleans clearly has a lot of work to do. Running it back with the same roster that won 26 games last year seems unfeasible.
Currently, I think they are in purgatory. I think almost all of us agree. I do think running it back and expecting a different result is insanity. I don't think trading Trey for various shit parts and picks is the way to rebound, but he's obviously at his most valuable at this moment. Is a full season of DJM the answer when he hasn't played in more games than Zion the last 2 seasons and they were 5-9 in games he played last year? Do we expect the rookies to make a leap or possibly have a sophomore slump? If nothing changes before tipoff in October, I would have to give this team a F for the offseason, but then maybe a C+ for not making a rash move in an attempt to get marginally better.
