Like every other NFL team, the New Orleans Saints remain prepared for a number of contingencies. On Monday, one of their worst-feared came to pass, with starting quarterback Drew Brees sidelined for at least six weeks with a hand injury.
The immediate answers to the question that poses are clear: backups Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill can fill in for Brees during his recovery. But who else is out for the Saints to consider? There are free agents available who have spent time in the Saints’ system and others who have competed for a Super Bowl title. Here’s four options for the Saints to consider, made up of players both already on the team and available in free agency.
Teddy Bridgewater
The obvious answer is Bridgewater: the former first-round pick and one-time Pro Bowler. He’s had a year to learn the Saints offense inside and out, and coach Sean Payton and his staff will have a full week to prepare him for his first meaningful start (last year’s Week 17 game saw him take the field almost alone; Alvin Kamara and many other starters were inactive). They can focus on his skills and put together a plan for him, rather than throw him into a game planned for Brees to mange.
Then again, Bridgewater may not be able to cut the mustard. He struggled to hit routine, bread-and-butter throws in the Saints offense during his time against the Rams. The Saints frequently task Kamara with running a simple route into the flat, angling up towards the sideline, with the quarterback ordered to throw a high-arcing pass for Kamara to catch in stride before stepping out of bounds. Bridgewater had consistent issues making that throw, and it may suggest a larger issue with placing his passes into the right spot at the right time.
If that’s the case, the Saints may have no choice but to try out other options — both those already on the roster, some who have been around before, and others who are out on the street, waiting for their chance in free agency. It’s not ideal, and we’re certainly not hoping for that to come to pass. Neither are the Saints. Payton will do everything in his power to put Bridgewater in a position where he can succeed.
J.T. Barrett
He may not throw a pass for the Saints this year, but reuniting with Barrett would be an easy decision to make. The second-year pro spent most of the 2018 season on the Saints practice squad (he was signed, waived, and re-signed a combined 25 times) and should still have a good feel for the offense. The Saints waived him early in training camp this summer, and the Seattle Seahawks picked him up, though he ultimately didn’t make their roster or practice squad.
Considering the many ways the Saints deploy Taysom Hill (exposing him to a worrying variety of injuries), bringing back Barrett would do a lot to bolster the depth chart. His return would at least inspire some confidence that the Saints won’t have to reduce Hill’s workload as the utility player behind Bridgewater. Barrett’s presence would help round out a depth chart missing its best player and allow the Saints to continue getting creative on offense. It’s always wise to keep players around with experience in your system, even if the odds of them playing someday soon are low.
Given Barrett’s availability and the length of Brees’ absence, it would be a shock if he didn’t come back to New Orleans. The odds of him re-signing with the Saints may only rise if Brees does end up landing on injured reserve, which would free up a spot on the 53-man roster.
Taysom Hill
Let’s be real: Hill is every bit the preferred second-best option if Bridgewater goes down. The challenge is going to be how to deploy him.
Payton has gotten creative with Hill’s usage, lining him up at just about every possible position on offense and special teams. He caught the first touchdown pass of the 2019 season, for goodness’ sake. But the Saints likely want to continue using him in this versatile, gadget role — occasionally handling a read-option play, sometimes taking off with his own designed quarterback run. Limiting Hill’s snaps as a true quarterback adds an element of doubt to what the defense is reading before the snaps.
But let’s say that Bridgewater, for whatever reasons, doesn’t work out. And then Payton is forced to promote Hill to the starting gig. How does that impact the rest of the offense?
For starters, it would close a number of doors. Hill is a much more limited passer than Bridgewater. Sure, he progressed mechanically over the summer, and played well in the preseason. He showed tangible growth in his pocket awareness, ducking underneath pass rushers’ arms and avoiding pressure without bailing off into a scramble. But it wasn’t enough to think Hill can do that full-time, against real NFL defenses. The players he competed against in preseason were second-stringers at best; many of them have since been cut, with a lucky few landing on practice squads around the league. The step up in level of competition would be steep to say the least.
With Hill under center, the Saints would have to limit many of his plays to designed throws for his first or second read. The offensive line’s blocking assignments would require an overhaul to account for more intentional runs. It’s the kind of change that takes weeks or months, not a few days of fresh installs in practice. It’s why Bridgewater remains the favorite to start every game until Brees is back.
Colin Kaepernick
Hypothetically, if the Saints are going to strip the playbook down to the foundations and rebuild it anyway (as they would have to do for Hill), why not do it for Kaepernick?
Kaepernick is just two years older than Hill, and he’s thrown 1,846 more passes (including the playoffs) than the Saints’ third-stringer. He’s an accomplished NFL quarterback who’s actively training and keeping himself in game shape. He’s played in a Super Bowl and led multiple teams to the postseason. The NFL agreed to pay him and Eric Reid (who is know a Carolina Panther) a $10 million-or-so settlement to end his grievance against the league, but teams still won’t even give him a tryout.
The Saints might get desperate enough to do that. If Bridgewater flounders and Hill looks more like the guy once cut by the Green Bay Packers, Kaepernick would have the strongest resume of any possible options in free agency.
His time away from football isn’t a concern. The Washington Redskins signed Josh Johnson last year and played him in December, despite having not thrown a pass in an NFL game since 2011. And Kaepernick was and remains a better player than him.
And Kaepernick’s social justice activism would merge seamlessly into a Saints locker room featuring leaders like Demario Davis, who paid bail for the release of an immigrants rights activist back in August. The Saints locker room is full of socially-conscious men like Davis and Kaepernick.
If Brees continues to miss extended time and the other quarterback options fail, signing Kaepernick would be the only imaginable way for the Saints to salvage their season. If they’re serious about competing for a Super Bowl this year, he might end up being their only hope.
