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The New Orleans Saints made the first big splash of the 2023 offseason with the addition of Derek Carr. The team had hoped to secure a playoff spot in exchange for saving him from a long offseason wait. However, it missed the playoffs. How did this happen? Here's a look at three factors that held New Orleans back in 2023:
Pressure via impending salary cap woes
The year 2023 was an all-in year for the New Orleans Saints. Although Dennis Allen felt pressurized to fill Sean Payton's shoes with an exclamation point, it runs deeper than that. One can explain much of what went down with the Saints this season due to the salary cap.
According to Spotrac, the team had about $3 million in cap space at the start of January. However, 2024 puts the franchise in a massive financial pickle. The team will be $75 million over the cap in 2024. This means that a massive rework of the roster will need to take place to get the team in compliance.
It also means the team will have younger and less talented players next season as almost a guarantee. The year 2023 was their last shot to make a push. With the season over, New Orleans should tear down the roster and look for places to save money. It had banked on doing so with a deep playoff run to hold over fans, but a 9-8 record was all it achieved.
Derek Carr
Not many expected the Saints to suddenly morph into the NFC's version of the 2022 Kansas City Chiefs, proving Carr doubters right. Carr has played in just one playoff game in his entire career, and his franchise has made the playoffs only twice on his watch. An injury kept him out in 2016.
While the quarterback put up one of the best touchdown-interception ratios of his career, it wasn't enough. The biggest problem was the team's performance against the Los Angeles Rams in the Thursday Night Football game on December 21st. The team had a chance to qualify for the playoffs but came up short for most of the contest.
Multi-week funks damaged the New Orleans Saints chances
It wasn't just the Rams game that the team came up short in. When the Saints lost this year, they didn't bounce back quickly enough. Following the disastrous loss to the Rams, the Saints won against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, this was followed by more losses.
In Week 3, Carr lost to the Green Bay Packers and then to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4. Then, in Week 6, Alvin Kamara's offense came up short against the Houston Texans and stumbled against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 7.
In Weeks 10-13, the team lost three straight games. This dug them a hole they never could climb out of, despite going 4-1 in their final five games. The regular season ended in cold, snowy January, but games played in sunny and warm early October still set the stage for missing the playoffs.
