New Orleans Saints: A Last Hurrah for Payton-Brees Era

Sean Payton and Drew Brees continue to insist they aren’t going anywhere, but are the New Orleans Saints about ready to take that choice away?

Don’t forget it has now be three-straight seasons since the Saints were in the playoffs. Seven seasons since they were in the Super Bowl. It’s hard not to feel like the best years of a Hall of Fame quarterback were wasted because the head coach couldn’t get the defense right. If there is one major negative that will follow Payton the rest of his time with that organization, it will be a woeful mismanagement of the defense.

Now the question is at hand. Will a fourth-straight losing season force the Saints hand to finally call for a full reboot? Payton may have signed a contract extension last year, but he was also followed by persistent trade rumors. There is a lingering feeling that either he or the organization are thinking about a change. Brees is 38-years old. His days are numbered as well.

Another losing season could convince the team it’s time for a change. Adam Schein of NFL.com predicts that flop is coming. Both because they failed to fully improve the defense and the rest of the division remains strong.

"“I loved the Marshon Lattimore pick, but it wasn’t enough. New Orleans still has mega-holes on defense, per usual. The Saints finished last season ranked second in scoring offense … and second-to-last in scoring defense. I see this imbalance continuing in 2017. And unfortunately, I even have some issues with the offense at the moment.Adrian Peterson is done. Other teams were right to pass on the 32-year-old running back. Prior to his season-ending knee injury in Week 3 of last season, Peterson had run the ball 37 times for … 72 yards. That’s 1.9 yards per carry. Anyone know of a fountain of youth in the Big Easy? Meanwhile, Max Unger — a fantastic piece in the middle of that offensive line — recently underwent foot surgery and is expected to miss about five months. That injury scares me. The Saints can’t do without their pivot.And here’s another issue for New Orleans: Everyone else in the division got better this offseason.”"

New Orleans Saints reboot

It’s just so hard to imagine after years of watching the Payton-Brees combination dazzle defenses for so many years. It feels like they should’ve done more than their incredible run in 2009. The numbers prove that much. Yet here they are, somehow being questioned in a city they made relevant in sports for the first time. Such is the cold nature of the business. Not everybody gets to walk off into the sunset.

Maybe they can prolong the story for another chapter, but it feels like this is their absolute last chance.