New Orleans Saints nice Reggie Bush is not so certain the staff will go along with a quarterback early within the 2025 NFL Draft. The Saints clearly want a franchise quarterback for the long run. Nonetheless, they’re manner too low within the draft — they decide at No. 9 — to pick one of many marquee quarterbacks in Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward. Moreover, they’re nonetheless locked in with veteran quarterback Derek Carr, who nonetheless has two years left on his deal and isn’t keen to take a pay minimize.
“That is a query for the GM and the coach,” says Bush in a one-on-one interview on behalf of his partnership with Tostitos when requested if the Saints will convey again Carr. “I do not know at this level as a result of it simply is determined by what’s on the market. They’re at No. 9, in order that takes away all the great quarterbacks. So we’ll see.”
Bush acknowledges that if the Saints aren’t totally assured in a younger quarterback within the draft, their greatest plan of action could also be simply working it again with Carr. After Sanders and Ward, there aren’t any projected first-round picks at quarterback.
“It actually simply is determined by what they will get,” says Bush “That risk-reward versus dropping a man like Carr and never having a backup plan, not having the man who you are feeling like might be the subsequent man versus attempting to start out throughout.”
Bush additionally mentions how the Saints might commerce for a quarterback as a possible various.
“I am undecided what they’ll do with the quarterback place,” Bush reiterates. “There’s some good QB’s on this draft and probably some good ones to be traded for.”
The NFC South is clearly dominated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who’ve gained the previous 4 division titles and have superior to the playoffs in every of the previous 5 seasons. Proper behind them are the Atlanta Falcons, an up-and-coming staff that includes a younger franchise quarterback in Michael Penix. The Falcons entered Week 18 with a chance to win the division, with Penix throwing for 312 yards within the season finale in opposition to the Carolina Panthers.
In Carr’s protection, the Saints have been really respectable with him within the lineup, with New Orleans going 5-5 with the veteran quarterback within the lineup. Nonetheless, a .500 report clearly isn’t going to get it performed, with the Saints additionally going 9-8 final season, solely to come back up wanting a playoff berth.
It would not assist issues that the protection — beforehand a staple of the franchise — has declined drastically. After ending eighth and within the high 10 in factors allowed per sport in every of the previous 4 seasons, the Saints dropped right down to nineteenth in protection in the course of the 2024 season.
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Bush believes Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn — a former defensive coach and participant with the Saints — is greatest suited to be the staff’s subsequent head coach. The previous All-Professional working again stresses the necessity for the Saints to discover a steady head coach, one thing they have been missing since Sean Payton left the franchise after the 2021 season.
“Clearly, they want a brand new head coach, they need to rent me as a head coach,” Bush says with a smile. “Clearly the season was powerful and Derek Carr getting harm was powerful as a result of he was clearly the chief of our staff and supplied a lot offensive spark for us. We see how a lot the staff struggled with out him.”
Bush explains why Glenn can be a superb match for the Saints, pointing in the direction of the Lions’ defensive effort of their current 31-9 win over the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings had entered the sport on a nine-game profitable streak with one of many hottest quarterbacks in Sam Darnold.
“They confirmed up they usually performed arduous and I assumed the package deal he known as, that is the sort of protection I’ll run,” says Bush. “I might combine it up with the blitzes, the way in which that he did. I assumed it was masterful since you noticed how a lot it affected Sam Donald and there have been a number of throws that I do know he could make in his sleep.”
“That one he missed on Justin Jefferson within the nook, in the long run zone the place they have been within the crimson zone, that was a results of the blitz and the stress he was going through,” says Bush. “He makes that throw 9 instances out of ten in another state of affairs. Justin Jefferson’s huge open, and he is in a one-on-one state of affairs.”
We’ll see what the Saints find yourself doing at quarterback, however their best choice could also be to run it again with Carr for yet one more season.