2022 New Orleans Saints Fantasy Preview

Notable Players- Jameis Winston

Winston started the season as the starting QB for the team, and was for the most part performing incredibly well. He didn’t look like the Winston that we’d often seen in Tampa Bay, where he would just throw the ball and hope.

Instead, he started the season incredibly strongly, before struggling before he suffered a serious injury that kept him out for the season. 

The issue for Winston is that he is pretty reliant on the pieces around him, and volume for fantasy success. He doesn’t have the dual-threat ability you would look for in a QB. He also isn’t a steady hand like players. He is going to be worth streaming some weeks, but you can’t really draft him.

Notable Players- Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram & Tony Jones

At the time of writing, I think it’s unlikely that Kamara ends up being suspended. He is currently facing a six-game suspension if his charges are upheld, which feels like a certainty. It’s just waiting for the legal process to conclude before the ban comes.

Assuming he plays the full season, he is going to be an RB1. With the workload he will get on the ground, along with the targets he gets in the offense, it would be hard not to be have a fantasy finish that high.

With that suspension on the horizon though, it brings Ingram and Jones in as late-round targets. If Kamara were to miss time, it’s far more likely that the team would cycle between these two, rather than bring another player in. Outside of that, where either would only likely have low-end RB2 value, there isn’t much to be concerned with.

Notable Players- Michael Thomas, Chris Olave & Jarvis Landry

There is no doubting that Thomas is a fantastic receiver when he has been healthy. But there is the issue- he missed all of last season with injury, and there seem to be doubts about his ability to be ready for Week 1 of this season.

Once he returns, there is also the question of how will he play in this offense? Winston’s arm is stronger than that of Drew Brees and the other QBs that Thomas played with, so he could play a different role in the offense. If he is able to play, then he is a WR2/ WR3, with a good pinch of upside.

Rookie Chris Olave is a fantastic talent, well worthy of the first-round selection that the team spent on him. He will enjoy getting secondary attention from defenders too. With the uncertainty around Thomas’s health, Olave is a decent draft option in late rounds.

Landry being signed by the team is a good one- for real-life. Landry is unlikely to be able to command a decent target share with the other players on the roster- especially if Thomas were to play. I’d consider him in deep PPR leagues, but not much else.

Notable Players- Taysom Hill & Adam Trautman

Well, with Hill being set to focus on playing TE to start the season, I get the feeling we are going to have the debate over position eligibility again. Hill doesn’t seem to have reliable fantasy value if he isn’t throwing the ball.

The team didn’t really put him out on the field while Winston was the starter, and looked elsewhere near the goal-line. With the team opting to bring in Andy Dalton, it’s really unlikely that Hill is going to be relevant for fantasy. Oh, he will frustrate owners, but doesn’t have standalone value.

The team seem like they have two TEs that they can call on with Trautman being a ‘traditional’ TE. The split of the role between Hill and Trautman brings us back to the old adage- if you have two TEs you have none.