Making the case for and against the Saints to be on HBO’s Hard Knocks

The New Orleans Saints are among four teams who are eligible for HBO Hard Knocks. The Detroit Lions with Dan Campbell and Jamaal Williams starred in last year's show, and the whole nation cheered for the Lions this past season. The four teams are the New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Chicago Bears, and Washington Commanders. All the teams have publicly said they don't want to be featured on the Emmy Award-winning series.

The NFL can force a team to be on the show, one of these four teams can and will be on the show. Unless another team steps up and says they would be okay with being on the show, they just can’t be forced. The decision will come soon, who will the NFL choose to force?

Here are reasons FOR and AGAINST choosing the Saints:

FOR:

Jamaal Williams and Cameron Jordan are perfect for TV entertainment. They also have intriguing stars in Tyrann Mathieu, Marshon Lattimore, Michael Thomas, Chris Olave, Alvin Kamara, Derek Carr, and many others. The star power alone beats out the Commanders and Bears. Also having Jameis Winston is huge, he was a centerpiece of the Bucs being put on Hard Knocks before.

The Saints locker room culture is something that's been built over time and still exists. Out of the four teams, they have the best locker room culture. It would be really cool to see inside the culture of the room.

It has the storyline of a prior successful team trying to get back to their old ways with a new QB. A once beloved team by many because of Drew Brees and Sean Payton is now stuck in neutral trying to find their way.

There will be drama with Alvin Kamara and constant conflict with tough practices. There always seems to be.

It will help the team get back into the national spotlight, Hard Knocks usually covers the grittier teams. The front-runner Jets are already in the spotlight and built a team ready to win now. The Saints have a lot of intriguing question marks and many entertaining camp battles coming up.

They always like to feature one underdog trying to make the roster, they have that in the hometown hero Tulane’s Nick Anderson, which is a perfect storyline.

AGAINST:

Plain and simple the Jets are the runaway favorite with Aaron Rodgers. The Saints can't compete with what the Jets have and done. It is New York that will also be a bigger audience. They have young superstars in the making and have signed some notable veteran free agents as well.

The Commanders don’t have a ton of stars but oh boy they have the drama. A new owner trying to build a culture after the prior one was so toxic. It could do well for TV.

The Bears have a little bit of everything, but the main point is fantasy football legend Justin Fields. He came into his own this season by being very productive and making some big-time plays with not many big-time players around him. The Bears could also be a perfect team for that gritty and underdog type of story.

What should Saints fans want? Some may say they don’t want the distraction around the team and affect the culture. But it would be cool to see inside the building because access to the Saints seems to be so limited at times. It also might spark a new fire under the team because their every movement is being captured and talked about on TV. Would it help to buy in? We will see who they end up picking.

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