The New Orleans Saints entered the offseason with some major question marks on their roster. Arguably the biggest unknown was the quarterback position. They are one of the teams that many people believe could target a quarterback in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, but they added some veteran insurance this offseason that may lead to them going in a different direction with their first-round pick.
The Saints were able to re-sign Jameis Winston, who was having a solid season in 2021 before he suffered a knee injury in a Week 8 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is expected to resume the role as starting quarterback as long as he is healthy.
If not, the team could turn to Andy Dalton. Dalton was a starter for the Cincinnati Bengals for the first nine seasons of his career, but his last two stops have been as a part-time starter. He ended up making nine starts for the Dallas Cowboys in 2020 when Dak Prescott was injured and six last season with the Chicago Bears.
But, he is coming to New Orleans knowing that he is the backup. His job will be to support Winston and do whatever he can to help him reach his ceiling.
“This Is Jameis’ thing,” Dalton said. “I’m here to help him out in any way that I can. I’m excited to work with him, be in the same room, and see everything I can do to help him out to make him the best player he can be.”
Dalton certainly comes with a ton of starting experience, so should Winston not be able to go at the start of the season, Dalton can step into the starting role. But, based on what he said, even if he plays well, this is Winston’s team to lead whenever he is healthy.
Having Dalton on the roster also means that the Saints can deploy Taysom Hill in his jack-of-all-trades role once again. When he was the backup quarterback last season, the team could not deploy him as often in special packages because they could not afford the risk of losing him to injury.
With Dalton entrenched as the backup, Hill can now be deployed elsewhere on the field, giving the Saints another versatile weapon to get the ball into their hands offensively.
