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Saints WR Deonte Harty Seeking New Deal

June 13th, 2022 at 4:11pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Saints made some big changes at receiver this offseason, trading up for Chris Olave and signing Jarvis Landry. These additions and Michael Thomas‘ expected return would not leave nearly as many opportunities as the rest of New Orleans’ wideout cast received last season.

Prior to the Olave trade-ups and the Landry accord, the Saints tendered Deonte Harty at the second-round level. The former Deonte Harris signed his RFA tender in April, and Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football tweets Harty is expected to show for Saints minicamp this week. But the 5-foot-6 wideout/special-teamer is seeking a new contract, Underhill adds.

Harty will make $3.99MM on his RFA tender — well up from the $850K he earned in 2021 — and does have an All-Pro nod on his resume. Harty received that honor as a punt returner in 2019, his rookie season. Harty has remained New Orleans’ primary kick and punt returner in the two seasons since.

A former UDFA out of Division II Assumption College (Massachusetts), Harty became a necessary piece at receiver for the Saints last season — when Thomas’ evolving timetable (and eventual full-season absence) wrecked the team’s aerial setup. Harty caught 36 passes for 570 yards and three touchdowns. Of course, he also served a three-game suspension for a summer 2021 DWI arrest. The Saints and Harty are not believed to be close on terms, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Harty may be eyeing recent deals handed out to some return men this offseason. Fellow All-Pro returner Jakeem Grant signed a three-year, $10MM deal with the Browns in March. The Jets gave 2021’s All-Pro kick returner, Braxton Berrios, a two-year, $12MM deal this year. Despite Berrios’ momentum and increased usage in New York’s offense, Harty bested the part-time Jet slot’s yardage total (431) by a considerable margin and did so in playing fewer offensive snaps.

Saints To Meet With RB David Johnson

June 13th, 2022 at 12:36pm CST by Sam Robinson

David Johnson‘s first free agency foray has been quiet, but the seven-year veteran running back will make his first offseason visit. The Saints are set to host the former Cardinals and Texans starter Monday, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football tweets.

New Orleans has Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram under contract, but the former was arrested in February and the latter is going into his age-33 season. The Saints are otherwise thin in the backfield, and Johnson is one of the better options available.

While Johnson’s past five seasons have not come especially close to his monster 2016 showing, the veteran back has done well for himself. The Cardinals gave their third-round find a three-year, $39MM extension in 2018, and the Northern Iowa alum played out that contract with the Texans.

Beyond that All-Pro sophomore slate, injuries and his inclusion in 2020’s DeAndre Hopkins trade — a widely panned deal that sent Johnson and two draft choices to Houston for the perennial Pro Bowl wideout — has defined Johnson’s career. But he delivered stretches of productivity in Houston. In 2020, Johnson totaled 1,005 scrimmage yards in 12 games, averaging 4.7 yards per carry. The Texans brought him back on a restructured deal last year but minimized his role. Johnson started just four games and amassed only 453 scrimmage yards, ceding time to some of the newcomers in Houston’s unusually assembled, veteran-filled backfield.

Johnson, 30, suffered a wrist injury that ended his 2017 season after one game. Although he did not clear 1,000 yards rushing upon return in 2018, the 940 he did compile marked somewhat of an achievement due to the Cardinals’ offensive nosedive that year. Still, nothing Johnson has done comes close to his 2016 year under Bruce Arians, one that featured 2,118 scrimmage yards and 20 touchdowns — both figures leading the league.

The Saints did not draft a running back, but they do have holdovers Tony Jones and Dwayne Washington still rostered. A 2020 UDFA, Jones missed time due to injury last season but only averaged 2.6 yards per carry (on 54 totes) in the games he played. The Saints re-signed Washington, who has been a key special-teamer with the franchise since 2018, this offseason.

Kamara was charged with battery resulting in substantial bodily harm in connection with a Las Vegas incident. The sixth-year star could face a 2022 suspension. Ingram, Johnson’s Texans teammate for a stretch in 2021, stands to be Kamara’s backup on a $1.5MM base salary.

Michael Thomas Unlikely To Participate In Saints’ Minicamp

June 11th, 2022 at 5:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Saints’ reassembled receiving corps represents one of this position’s top storylines — amid an offseason loaded with wideout intrigue — going into training camp. Chris Olave and Jarvis Landry are set to complement Michael Thomas for what stands to be one of the NFL’s most improved position groups.

But the Saints continue to wait on their All-Pro target. Although it has been since November when Thomas shut down his rehab effort to return for the 2021 season, the ankle issue he is rehabbing is likely to keep him out of the team’s minicamp next week, Dennis Allen said (via NOLA.com’s Amie Just, on Twitter). Thomas has not played since the 2020 divisional round, and even that wrapped an injury-plagued season, raising the anticipation for the seventh-year standout’s re-emergence.

While it can be interpreted as concerning Thomas is not yet ready to participate in a 2022 minicamp, given how long it has been since he was last at full strength, Allen said he wants the two-time All-Pro at 100% before he returns, via The Athletic’s Katherine Terrell (on Twitter). Thomas, 29, has progressed to running sprints, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football relays (via Twitter), and the Saints have expected him back at training camp for a bit now. Still, the lengthy stretch since New Orleans’ top target was at 100% places his career at a crossroads.

After missing just two games from 2016-19, Thomas suffered a high ankle sprain in the Saints’ 2020 opener. He then encountered a midseason hamstring injury, but the ankle trouble lingered into 2021. Thomas held off on undergoing ankle surgery until summer 2021 — months after the Saints wanted that operation to take place — and ran into a new ankle injury during the ’21 season. He has missed 26 games over the past two seasons. The Saints still managed to finish 9-8 last season, but they obviously missed Thomas, who finished his last healthy season as the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year.

Restructures have knocked Thomas’ 2022 base salary down to barely $1MM, but his cap number jumps from $13MM in 2022 to $28.3MM in 2023. Another injury-limited season would lead to conversations about a 2023 release, which would need to be a post-June 1 designation. For now, the Saints are preparing for a regular-season opener featuring a recovered Jameis Winston targeting a recovered Thomas and his new-look supporting cast. Thomas’ extended hiatus and Winston not being ready just yet provide additional barriers to this reality, creating a high-variance outlook for this season’s New Orleans offense.

Saints Hosting LB Joe Schobert

June 10th, 2022 at 11:51am CST by Adam La Rose

Free agent Joe Schobert may be on his way to the NFC for the first time in his career. The veteran linebacker is visiting the Saints, per Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football (Twitter link). 

Schobert, 28, was a fourth round pick of the Browns in 2016. He played sparingly on defense as a rookie, but took on a starter’s workload the following season. That year, he took a major step forward, leading the league in tackles with 144. He added three sacks, three forced fumbles and an interception, en route to being named a Pro Bowler.

The Wisconsin alum remained a full-time starter and key contributor for the Browns until he hit free agency in 2020. On the open market, he landed a five-year, $53.75MM contract with the Jaguars. Despite playing a full season and leading Jacksonville in tackles, Schobert found himself on the move once again just one season into that new deal.

Traded to the Steelers as the Jaguars looked to clean house amongst many of their veterans, Schobert spent last season in Pittsburgh. He continued to fill the stat sheet with 112 tackles, an interception and six pass deflections, but was nevertheless a significant member of the league’s worst run defense. At the end of the year, he was cut in a cost-saving move, as the team turned to Myles Jack as a replacement.

In New Orleans, Schobert could provide experienced depth at a minimum to the team’s linebacking corps. The Saints appear set to lose Kwon Alexander, who has been linked to the Jets multiple times this offseason. On, presumably, a much smaller free agent deal than the last one he signed, Schobert could be another effective veteran on the team’s re-vamped defense.

Browns Have Discussed Bringing Back Odell Beckham Jr.

June 6th, 2022 at 9:57am CST by Sam Robinson

Beyond Amari Cooper, the Browns are set to rely on a host of young wide receivers. Despite being linked to re-signing Jarvis Landry, the team has been hesitant to add a veteran here just for the sake of adding experience.

A healthy Odell Beckham Jr. would qualify as something more. Although it would be a strange development for the Browns to bring back Beckham after such a public divorce, the team has discussed this scenario, Armando Salguero of Outkick.com notes. The circumstances have obviously changed, given the team’s bumpy Baker Mayfield-for-Deshaun Watson transition. Of course, Beckham’s health has led to him remaining in free agency into June. The Browns know full well how much injuries have affected the former Giants superstar’s career.

OBJ has torn the same ACL twice in 15 months, the first coming with the Browns, and is not expected to be ready until around the midseason point. Still, Browns players — including Myles Garrett — have made overtures to the talented wideout returning. Beckham, 29, said earlier this offseason he is open to it, despite lobbying to leave Cleveland — and then awkwardly doing so, wrapping a disappointing Browns tenure — last year. Other teams remain in the mix, most notably the Rams.

Sean McVay said in May he still wants Beckham back in his offense, though the Rams giving Allen Robinson a three-year deal worth $45MM and being in negotiations for a Cooper Kupp raise stand to complicate matters financially. Thought to be on his way back to Los Angeles earlier this offseason, Beckham and the Rams’ contract talks did not move the needle for the high-profile receiver, Salguero adds.

Landry has attempted to recruit Beckham to New Orleans, but the Saints have reloaded at receiver. Landry, Michael Thomas and Chris Olave are positioned as the team’s top three here, and although Thomas has become a bigger health risk than Beckham, this is a more crowded depth chart than the Browns appear to have. It would seem Beckham would be more needed in Cleveland, which is set to rely on third-year talent Donovan Peoples-Jones and third-round rookie David Bell alongside Cooper.

The Browns outflank the Rams and Saints in cap space, leading the league by a wide margin at $40MM-plus, but OBJ’s injuries do not present his latest free agency as a true bidding war. Beckham already received his monster payday — coming via the five-year, $90MM deal the Giants authorized in 2018 — but the second ACL tear derailed his hopes at another high-end receiver contract. The NFC playoffs and Super Bowl LVI’s first half displayed OBJ’s talents, but the injury trouble that began in New York may lead to him going year-to-year on the contract front. With his age-30 season on tap, Beckham is nearly out of time to show he can still be a reliable contributor.

Latest On Jameis Winston’s Commitment To New Orleans, Knee Injury

May 30th, 2022 at 7:02pm CST by Adam La Rose

Jameis Winston isn’t one of the many new faces on New Orleans’ offense, but his absence from the team midway through 2021 will make him seem, in a sense, like a new arrival this fall. He spoke recently about his decision to re-sign with the Saints, which was made within the context of a number of other factors, including his season-ending knee injury. 

When asked about his commitment to stay in New Orleans (despite his injury and the departure of head coach Sean Payton), the 28-year-old said, via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, “I always had faith in my ability to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league… I’m just an optimistic guy, and I played a season where I felt like I improved on some of the areas that I had a lot of doubt in, and I was confident with that. I wish I could’ve finished with this team, with where things were trending.”

The Saints were 5-2 when Winston went down, hampering the team’s offense and ending a campaign in which he put up a 14:3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Having failed to land Deshaun Watson this offseason, though, they quickly re-signed him to a two-year deal. That leaves him as the undisputed starter for the first time in New Orleans, as the team searches for a long-term Drew Brees replacement. He will re-take his place as the No. 1 with a receiving corps now featuring a healthy Michael Thomas, recent signing Jarvis Landry and first-rounder Chris Olave. 

Much of Winston’s success will depend, of course, on his recovery from knee surgery. Breer notes that he is still targeting training camp as the point at which he will be “full go”. That is in line with the reporting on the matter when OTAs began last week.

However, as Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio details, Winston is still moving with a “visible limp” at this point. While it is true that his ramp-up to full motion is in the early stages, and that much can change between now and mid-July, that news should at least be reason for pause with respect to the team’s optimism he will be fully recovered in time for the start of the season. Winston made it public he intends to continue wearing a brace on the injured knee throughout the campaign, but there is apparently a long way for him to go if he is to resume his level of play from 2021.

Latest On Jameis Winston

May 27th, 2022 at 10:07am CST by Adam La Rose

The Saints’ offense will look much different at the beginning of the 2022 season than it did at the end of last year’s campaign. One of the most important of those differences is the expected return of a healthy Jameis Winston in time for the start of the year. 

The 28-year-old has been in attendance at New Orleans’ OTAs this week, as noted by the Athletic’s Katherine Terrell (subscription required). The primary reason for doing so, of course, is to continue his ongoing rehab from the knee injury which ended his season in October.

The progress he has made on that front led to optimism that he would be available to start Week 1 this season. Winston himself has maintained that he would be back on the field before training camp, which he has now been able to do. His presence has been marked by incremental improvements in mobility.

“The biggest thing about my specific injury was the meniscus’ he said, noting that the ACL and MCL repair “was a pretty simple procedure. But the meniscus repair has been the biggest limiter for me right now, in terms of moving, rolling out, in terms of certain movements that I’m not able to do just because of the timetable of the recovery.”

Winston is currently wearing a brace which, Terrell reports, he intends to continue using throughout the season. If he continues progressing as he has so far, he should be in line for his first season as the undisputed No.1 QB for the Saints, which will open the door to a resumption of his relatively impressive play at the start of last year. Doing so would become easier, of course, if the team also gets receiver Michael Thomas back from injury, which they expect to take place by training camp. Overall, Winston’s current status could point to a marked improvement in the team’s passing game relative to last season’s performance.

Saints Planning On Michael Thomas Training Camp Return

May 26th, 2022 at 2:45pm CST by Sam Robinson

New Orleans reloaded its receiving corps this offseason, making multiple trade-up maneuvers to land Chris Olave in Round 1 and signing Jarvis Landry shortly after the draft. The Saints’ receiver puzzle, however, still hinges on Michael Thomas‘ availability.

The two-time All-Pro has not played since the 2020 season, and that featured multiple injuries and an unremarkable stat line. Thomas shut down his potential midseason 2021 return, citing a setback in his recovery from a later-than-expected ankle surgery. As the Saints wind down their first week of OTAs, Thomas is not yet ready to go. Dennis Allen said Thursday the team is targeting a Thomas training camp return, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.

“I think he’s doing well in his rehab. He’s not ready yet, but he’s here, he’s rehabbing, getting himself better and we’re certainly anxious to get him out here,” Allen said, via ESPN’s Mike Triplett. “I know that he’s working his tail off to get himself back. And we feel good about where he’s at right now.”

Thomas ripped off four straight 1,100-plus-yard receiving seasons to start his career and broke Marvin Harrison‘s 17-year-old single-season reception record in 2019, when he caught 149 passes. He earned first-team All-Pro acclaim for his work that season and in 2018. Thomas’ 2018 slate led to him signing a five-year, $96.25MM extension ahead of the ’19 season. Although the Ohio State product delivered in Year 1 of that deal, just about everything else since the agreement has gone off track.

Entering 2020, Thomas had missed just two career games. Then, in Week 1 of that season, a high ankle sprain — coupled with a midseason hamstring injury — changed everything. The Saints then urged Thomas to undergo offseason ankle surgery ASAP, but he waited until last summer to go under the knife. In early November, Thomas announced his latest setback — one that has led to this point.

The 29-year-old standout suddenly faces some health-related pressure. The Saints held off on trading Thomas, despite his wayward 2020s and Sean Payton‘s departure, but 2022 stands to be a pivotal season for him. Thanks to multiple restructuring, the Saints do not have a viable path to cutting Thomas for notable savings until 2024.

The Saints certainly missed Thomas last season, when they featured no players with 700-plus receiving yards, and moved aggressively to add some supporting-cast talent. Of course, Olave and Landry double as Thomas insurance. A Saints receiver cadre of Thomas, Landry, Olave, Marquez Callaway and the recently re-signed Tre’Quan Smith would be one of the NFL’s best. But that reality cannot be counted on just yet.

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