CSC Mailbag: What will the Saints do at quarterback? Jameis Winston? Deshaun Watson?

The NFL season might not technically be over just yet, but the New Orleans Saints are already looking ahead to the 2022 seas. With that in mind, there are plenty of questions about what the Saints will do and look like in the coming months. There might be more questions than answers right now, so we took a few of your pressing questions off Twitter in this week’s CSC Mailbag:

The Saints would have ideally preferred to not have Marcus Williams play on the franchise tag this past season, preferring instead to have extended the Pro Bowl safety that also reduced his 2021 cap hit. Instead, a long-term deal wasn’t reached so the Saints ultimately were left with no other option considering they knew how valuable Williams is to the New Orleans defense.

I give you that context so you can understand that we are essentially in the same place again this offseason. The Saints know they need to keep Marcus Williams around long-term. If the two sides aren’t able to agree to terms of a contract extension, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the Saints slap the franchise tag on Marcus Williams again for 2022.

Let’s hope they can work out an extension, though.

That’s the question, isn’t it?

I would say the goal would be to nail down the quarterback situation as quickly as possible. If the Saints want to make a run for a player like Russell Wilson, they would likely need to do so as early as possible in order to have time to figure out the salary cap around such a move. If it doesn’t appear a trade for a player like Wilson is going to happen, then I fully expect the Saints to bring back Jameis Winston on a one or two-year contract.

In a world where the Saints and Jameis are not able to come to an agreement or Jameis signs elsewhere earlier in the offseason (neither of which are likely in my opinion), then I would expect the Saints to address the quarterback position early in the 2022 NFL Draft.

The Saints would need to extend him to spread out his 2022 cap hit into future years.

Great question. Honest answer: I don’t know.

The only thing I could think is that he still has the “stink” on him from his time as head coach of the then-Oakland Raiders when he led the team to back-to-back 4-12 records before getting canned.

Still, I think Dennis Allen has done more than enough to get another shot in the NFL, and I’m pleasantly surprised he hasn’t had any interview requests thus far.

I’ve been wrong about things like this before, but I don’t think so.

Michael Thomas’s trade value would be at an all-time low after missing the entire 2021 season due to injury. Even if the Saints wanted to pull the trigger on a trade, no team would be willing to pay the price necessary to make it worth it for the Saints. At minimum, the Saints would hope Thomas is healthy to start the 2022 season to rebuild some of his trade value.

Still, I don’t think a trade is likely considering Michael Thomas and Sean Payton have mended fences and are both ready to focus on winning together in 2022.

No.

Make sure you follow Canal Street Chronicles on Twitter at @SaintsCSC , “Like” us on Facebook at Canal Street Chronicles, and make sure you’re subscribed to our new YouTube channel.