The Saints have been a mess since winning the Super Bowl, partly due to the draconian punishment handed down by the NFL for Bountygate. As a result they’ve wasted many excellent seasons from Drew Brees.

With Brees getting older the window seems to have closed, particularly with the horrible mess they’ve called a defense in New Orleans. But now that they’ve run Rob Ryan out of town, perhaps they can get the defense back on track.

Meanwhile, Brees still puts up solid numbers, they’ve signed him to an extension, and the Saints have added a nice receiver in Michael Thomas. Can this team compete for the playoff spot? Hard to say, though I’m very interested to see how Thomas does this year from a fantasy point of view now that he’s been named a starter.