After spinning their wheels under .500 for three consecutive seasons, the New Orleans Saints finally returned to prominence last year, finishing 11-5 and winning the NFC South.
Are the Saints here to stay? The oddsmakers at BetDSI Sportsbook certainly seem to think so and have released the over-under win total odds to prove it. Here, take a look.
New Orleans Saints 2018-19 Regular Season Win Total
Over 9.5 (-135)
Under 9.5 (+105)
Drew Brees entered this past offseason as a free agent, but there was no real chance he’d play anywhere else. The Saints have made no real effort to find a quarterback of the future in his time there. While I like the signing of J.T. Barrett as a UDFA, you can’t exactly call that a plan of action for Sean Payton and New Orleans if and when Brees finally hangs up his spurs.
Brees signed a two-year, $50 million contract and he’s worth every penny until he falls off the QB cliff. Like Tom Brady in New England, Brees and the Saints have a nice little cordless bungee jump coming. Hopefully for their sake it’s not going to happen this year.
The #Saints trailed by 15 with 5:58 left in the 4th quarter…..
Then… @DrewBrees took over! https://t.co/VPFuFGYkRd
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) June 8, 2018
Brees is a guy that can work with pretty much any wide receiver set, regardless of the pedigree. He has a solid unit this year, with Michael Thomas becoming a superstar in his own right after consecutive 1,100-yard-plus seasons to begin his career. The kid caught 92 passes as a rookie and 104 last season. The future is pretty bright.
New Orleans plays Tedd Ginn Jr. as a deep outside threat and brought in Cameron Meredith from the Chicago Bears to play the slot. Brandon Coleman can contribute too along with rookie third rounder Tre’Quan Smith out of UCF. The guy that really interests me out of this receiver group is Josh Huff.
Huff was building his own nice little career before getting busted for pot got him kicked off the Philadelphia Eagles’ squad in 2016. He was out of the NFL last season and will serve a two-game suspension to open this one. He’s a guy that could resurrect his career, especially with Brees and Payton, in a big way.
Wide receiver Josh Huff spent all of 2017 as a free agent, so he's using a "rookie mindset" in his pursuit of a roster spot with the Saints. https://t.co/BNPmkAh1CQ
— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) June 6, 2018
Defensively, the Saints have been working hard in free agency and the draft for the last three or four years to put a consistent unit together. They spent their first round pick (and next year’s first rounder too) to select Marcus Davenport out of UTSA in April’s draft. I’m honestly not sure how much he’ll play as a rookie, but overall this defense is good enough to win as long as Brees is doing all his Drew Brees-y things.
Here is where you must be concerned if you like the over. Three teams out of the NFC South made the playoffs last season and none of them won fewer than 10 games. Two of the last three NFC Super Bowl representatives are from this division, so New Orleans will have a killer schedule no matter who else they face.
Luckily for them, they have a couple of gimmes to open the year at home with Tampa Bay on opening week then the Cleveland Browns in Week Two. Going through the rest of their schedule, it looks to me like they’ll need some real help to get to double-digit victories or make the playoffs. I think the under is the way to go.
