2023 NFL Power Rankings: New Orleans Saints

Throughout the 2023 NFL season, we will compile a consensus NFL Power Rankings that averages the rankings of all 32 NFL teams.

Below you will find a Week 13 roundup for the New Orleans Saints in our consensus 2023 NFL Power Rankings.

ESPN -- Rank: 21

Much like last year, the Saints are struggling to stop the run, particularly against mobile quarterbacks, and have not progressed as an offense. The Saints came out of the bye looking the same as before, with an offense that cannot consistently score touchdowns in the red zone, scoring a TD on 42.5% of red zone trips (ranks 29th). On special teams, a lot has been asked of rookie kicker Blake Grupe, who is 24-of-30 this year but has often been the only source of offense. As Saints running back Alvin Kamara said: The team is "consistently inconsistent." -- Katherine Terrell

NFL.com -- Rank: 17

After a midseason flurry of productivity, the offense is back in slump mode. Derek Carr racked up 305 passing yards against the Falcons, but he can't seem to get this team into the end zone. His pick and Taysom Hill's fumble in the red zone basically decided the game. New Orleans lost by two scores, but just as easily could have won by two. That speaks to the mediocrity of this team and the NFC South, which keeps things open for now. Carr just hasn't brought this offense together the way I imagined. The early-season OL issues can't be ignored, and it's hard to know who is to blame when Carr and his receivers aren't on the same page. The Saints need to fix the communication errors and red-zone woes fast, because this defense can't stop a good run game.

Continue reading New Orleans Saints NFL Power Rankings Roundup

2023 NFL Predictions: NFC South

KEVIN HANSON (@EDSFootball)
Updated: Thursday, September 7th

Before the start of the season, I will post my NFL division-by-division predictions for the 2023 NFL regular season and postseason.

Instead of projecting an outright winner and loser in all 272 regular-season games, I've assigned a win probability to each team in every game and totalled them up.

With that said, here are our early NFC South projections for each team including their win total.

1. New Orleans Saints - Projected Wins: 8.93

Compared to Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season, all four NFC South teams have a new starter as they enter Week 1 of the 2023 season. Derek Carr is an upgrade over Andy Dalton, and Chris Olave is one of the best young receivers in the NFL. It's unclear what the team will get from Michael Thomas, who was once the most productive receiver in the NFL but has appeared in only 10 games over the past three seasons combined. Alvin Kamara is suspended for the first three games of the season, but the team will have a talented trio of backs with Kamara, Jamaal Williams, who led the NFL in rushing touchdowns last year, and rookie Kendre Miller.

The Saints have ranked top 10 in DVOA in five consecutive seasons. The 2023 version of this defense will look different up front. While Cameron Jordan is still there, the team lost four linemen that played significant snaps. The strength of the defense is its secondary with Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye at safety and Marshon Lattimore, Paulson Adebo and Bradley Roby at cornerback.

Continue reading our 2023 NFL Predictions: NFC South

2023 Fantasy Football Projections: New Orleans Saints

Our Fantasy Football Projections will be viewable by both position and team.

Below you will find our 2023 fantasy football projections for the New Orleans Saints.

MORE: Fantasy football projections for more NFL teams

QUARTERBACKS

Player	Att.	Comp.	Yards	TD	INT	Rush	Yards	TD	Points
Derek Carr	512.3	331.5	3688.6	23.05	11.27	32.1	104.3	0.71	231.89
Jameis Winston	33.4	20.5	247.2	1.6	1.04	4.4	15	0.09	16.25

Derek Carr: Carr was fantasy's QB15 through Week 16 before being benched in Week 17 by Josh McDaniels last year. Now in New Orleans, Carr improves the outlook for the team's pass catchers (as an upgrade over Andy Dalton), but he remains little more than a solid QB2 in fantasy football. Since 2014, he has finished in the QB13-QB20 range every year except 2016 (QB10).

MORE: Continue reading our 2023 Fantasy Football Projections: New Orleans Saints

New Orleans Saints: 2023 NFL Schedule

Below you will find the weekly NFL regular-season schedule for the New Orleans Saints in 2023.

MORE: 2023 NFL Strength of Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Time (ET) / Tickets
Week 1	Sun., Sep. 10	vs. Tennessee Titans	W 16-15
Week 2	Mon., Sep. 18	at Carolina Panthers	W 20-17
Week 3	Sun., Sep. 24	at Green Bay Packers	L 17-18
Week 4	Sun., Oct. 1	vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 9-26
Week 5	Sun., Oct. 8	at New England Patriots	W 34-0
Week 6	Sun., Oct. 15	at Houston Texans	L 13-20
Week 7	Thu., Oct. 19	vs. Jacksonville Jaguars	L 24-31
Week 8	Sun., Oct. 29	at Indianapolis Colts	1:00 PM / Tickets
Week 9	Sun., Nov. 5	vs. Chicago Bears	1:00 PM / Tickets
Week 10	Sun., Nov. 12	at Minnesota Vikings	1:00 PM / Tickets
Week 11		BYE
Week 12	Sun., Nov. 26	at Atlanta Falcons	1:00 PM / Tickets
Week 13	Sun., Dec. 3	vs. Detroit Lions	1:00 PM / Tickets
Week 14	Sun., Dec. 10	vs. Carolina Panthers	1:00 PM / Tickets
Week 15	Sun., Dec. 17	vs. New York Giants	1:00 PM / Tickets
Week 16	Thu., Dec. 21	at Los Angeles Rams	8:15 PM / Tickets
Week 17	Sun., Dec. 31	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	1:00 PM / Tickets
Week 18	Sun., Jan. 7	vs. Atlanta Falcons	TBD / Tickets

MORE: New Orleans Saints historical W-L records - New Orleans Saints historical head-to-head records

Fantasy Football Strength of Schedule (SOS)

How easy or difficult is the fantasy football schedule for New Orleans Saints players?

Fantasy Football Strength of Schedule by position:

New Orleans Saints Mock Draft Roundup 1.0

Throughout the year and leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft, we will update our New Orleans Saints Mock Draft Roundup showing picks for the New Orleans Saints from several prominent sites and draft analysts.

The following are picks in recent mock drafts for the New Orleans Saints:

EDSFootball - Kevin Hanson (5/9)

19. Kalen King, CB, Penn State

There's a good chance that King will be selected earlier than his former teammate, Joey Porter Jr. (32nd in 2023). King led the Big Ten in passes defended (21) and pass breakups (18) and finished with three interceptions last season.

CBS Sports - Josh Edwards (5/8)

18. Christian Mahogany, IOL, Boston College

Andrus Peat and Cesar Ruiz are free agents after the season so New Orleans adds another body to the group.

ESPN - Todd McShay (5/4)

21. Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State

If Harrison and Egbuka both go in Round 1 next year, that makes five Ohio State receivers on Day 1 over the course of three years. That's wild. I'm curious to see what Egbuka does this season without C.J. Stroud under center. He plays with speed and burst, and he averaged 15.6 yards per catch last season en route to 1,151 yards and 10 TD catches. In New Orleans, he could team up with Chris Olave -- one of those aforementioned other Buckeye first-rounders -- and Michael Thomas to give Derek Carr a solid pass-catching trio.

The Athletic - Dane Brugler (5/2)

19. Malik Nabers, WR, LSU

I heard Nabers' name multiple times at this year's combine by 2023 draft prospects anointing him as the "next" big-time receiver to come from the SEC. He reached 1,000 yards receiving last season and played his best ball in the final few games.

MORE: Continue reading our 2024 New Orleans Saints Mock Draft Roundup

New Orleans Saints - 2023 Draft Results

The table below are all of the 2023 NFL Draft picks selected by the New Orleans Saints.

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School
1	29	Bryan Bresee	DT	Clemson
2	40	Isaiah Foskey	EDGE	Notre Dame
3	71	Kendre Miller	RB	TCU
4	103	Nick Saldiveri	G	Old Dominion
4	127	Jake Haener	QB	Fresno State
5	146	Jordan Howden	S	Minnesota
6	195	A.T. Perry	WR	Wake Forest

More: 2023 NFL Draft Results - New Orleans Saints Draft History