Injuries have plagued the Saints season

The New Orleans Saints have hit a point of no return. For the first time in Sean Payton's coaching career, the Saints are on a 5-game skid. The Saints are looking for a win for the first time since October 31st vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Since then, they have lost 5 straight games while losing many players along the way. Since then, the Saints have played without Jameis Winston who was lost for the year, Alvin Kamara, Marcus Davenport, Terron Armstead, Ryan Ramcyzk all have missed multiple games due to injury. Payton Turner, Adam Trautman, Tanoh Kpassagnon, and Cj Gardener-Johnson have spent time on injured reserve during the five-game skid. Along with Jameis Winston and Michael Thomas, Wil Lutz, Andrus Peat, and Landon Young have been shut down for the year. The list doesn't stop there, most recently the Saints are fighting through a Covid-19 outbreak that has resulted in Cam Jordan, Mark Ingram, and Ty Montgomery being placed on the Covid reserve list. A healthy Saints lineup was 5-2 and, in a position, to be in the driver's seat in the NFC South after wins vs the Green Bay Packers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New England Patriots. Even with all this adversity Saints fans still believe in this team moving forward. A healthy Saints lineup is nothing less than a playoff-caliber team.

But what's next for the New Orleans Saints? According to the Draft Kings SBNation fan reacts pool, 60% of Saints fans believe the team is headed in the right direction.

This Saints season might be one to forget but it wasn't from lack of talent and coaching. The future for the Saints is still bright with young talent and strong coaching staff. The belief in fans has dropped each week but it is not the season as we know it might be chalked but this team is headed in the right direction in the near future.

The Saints will enter one of the most important off-seasons in franchise history. It could be the difference between a full-on rebuild or quick retool, as they did back in 2017. The Saints will be upwards of $50 million dollars over the salary cap with a large hole at the QB position. The Saints have the ability to clear around $80-90 million dollars in cap space with a various number of moves. If the Saints can find their next QB and retain the core of their team and continue to draft well, this team will be back in no time.

It is clear that Saints fans trust the organization to get this team back on track of Super Bowl contention.

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