Getty Image / James Gilbert
The New Orleans Saints are going to be going through some big changes this offseason.
They already had one of their defensive coordinators leave for a division rival.
Andy Dalton is no longer under contract, which means they’ll either be turning back to Jameis Winston at quarterback or trying to find a new one this offseason.
They appeared to be preparing to release Michael Thomas when they reworked his contract after the season ended.
Now they’ve given themselves another big change to deal with.
According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, the Saints have surprisingly decided to part ways with Kris Richard, who was a co-defensive coordinator for the team during the 2022 season.
The #Saints parted ways with co-defensive coordinator/secondary Kris Richard, sources tell me and @RapSheet.
New Orleans' other co-DC, Ryan Nielsen, recently took the DC job in Atlanta. Significant changes on D.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 1, 2023
This is a pretty surprising move considering the Saints’ defense was definitely not the reason the team struggled this past season.
The Saints were actually one of the league’s best defenses, allowing an average of just 20.3 points per game to opponents. That was good enough for 9th best in the league.
On the other hand, the offense averaged only 19.4 points per game, which was 11th worst in the NFL.
Yet, the Saints decided they needed to make a change on the defensive side of the ball.
It’s an especially odd decision given that the NFC South could potentially be bad enough next season for the Saints to be able to get wins solely on the strength of their defense.
Even this season, they were able to win 7 games despite their offense’s struggles.
Now they’ll begin searching for a defensive coordinator, seemingly with the intention to find one that can improve on a 9th ranked defense.
We’ll see how that goes for them.