The NFL brings plenty of pressure. Who are some players on the New Orleans Saints that must perform during the upcoming season?
3 Saints players that could single-handedly ruin the team's 2024 NFL season
Trevor Penning
This is an obvious choice. Penning's first-round pedigree and selection have not paid off for him during his pro career do far. Penning missed the first 11 games of his rookie year in 2022. He played just 66 offensive snaps during that season.
Last year was not too much better for Penning as far as on-field performance. Penning lost his starting offensive tackle job to James Hurst in Week 6 and never got it back. Andrus Peat started in his place for the rest of the year.
This season, he's projected as a starter at OT once again for New Orleans. He's opposite rookie Taliese Fuaga while Ryan Ramczyk nurses a degenerative knee issue. The Saints need him to be, at the very least, a starting level tackle for their offense to find their greatest success.
With new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak calling plays and leading the unit, Penning is feeling confident that he can make strides in year three. He recently said that he feels fine about swapping to RT from LT this year.
"I mean it's not as much as you would probably think because the whole offseason we trained down in Frisco with Duke Manyweather, we trained both sides so it's already kind of been you know I've kind of been there already we worked on that down there like 50-50 pretty much so it's not to much of a change." -- Penning on the swap
Derek Carr
This is the most obvious one. Carr was banged up and inconsistent for the first half of 2023. Some of that blame should go on former OC Pete Carmichael Jr. and his offensive line, but now, he is healthy.
He proved that he could be a solid starter at QB over the latter half of the season. The veteran QB must find consistency and effectiveness at a better rate this season in order for the Saints to be good enough on offense to reclaim the NFC South.
If Carr proves himself, the Saints are a contender in the NFC.
Paulson Adebo
A surprise here? Probably.
Adebo had a career year in 2023. He played at a Pro Bowl level with Marshon Lattimorem missing most of the season due to injuries.
With Lattimore back, there's probably less pressure on him to perform now. That being said, the Saints top CB's return will make teams want to target Adebo and the other parts of the field more often. He's got to be up to the challenge in a contract year for New Orleans.
