Welcome back to the Saints Insider newsletter for Thursday, Jan. 20. It's the offseason. So news will be sporadic, especially for the next few weeks. Saints coaches have been taking some well deserved time off since the season ended two weeks ago. They're expected to be back in office next week as the staff conducts personnel evaluations and beings to look ahead to the upcoming offseason. Meantime, out Saints coverage team, led by beat writers Amie Just and Luke Johnson, is in the midst of conducting its own position-by-position evaluation, starting with the offense. The series starts with the most important and compelling position on the field: quarterback. Luke Johnson looks at how the post-Drew Brees era played out in 2021 and what options the Saints have at the position going forward. As a companion piece, I weighed on in the quarterback position in a recent column and explained why I think it should the Saints' top priority this offseason. In Part II of our position-by-position outlook, Luke Johnson analyzes one of the strongest positions on the team -- running back -- and why the unit is in good shape with superstar Alvin Kamara leading the way. Last but certainly not least, we take a look at the embattled receivers and tight ends, how they fared this season without star Michael Thomas in the lineup and what the group's prospects are going forward. As always, thanks for following our daily coverage here at NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune. We'll continue our offseason coverage throughout the days and weeks ahead as the Saints turn the page on 2021 and begin planning for 2022. Until next time.... Cheers, Jeff Duncan |