The Saints won four of their final five games during the 2023 season and finished with a winning record, but the late success wasn’t enough to lift the team to a postseason berth.
While the Saints fell short of their goals last year, quarterback Derek Carr does see something to build off from the way they finished last season. During an appearance with Adam Schein of Mad Dog Sports Radio, Carr said the team showed it can move forward through “a lot of different adversities” and can use that experience as a building block that puts them in better position for the coming season.
“Coming into this year, we’re just trying to build off of what we had last year,” Carr said. “The relationships, the bonds, the unity, the time we spend together. I felt like coming into this offseason, compared to last offseason, we’re 10 times farther ahead of where we were. And I mean that as a team, as a group, as a unit. The bonds that we have. It’s the ultimate team sport and that’s the most important thing is the team. So we’re stepping into this year trying to build off how last year ended.”
The Saints had the same record as the division-winning Bucs and the Falcons were 7-10 before an offseason that’s seen them change coaches while bringing in veterans like Kirk Cousins, Matthew Judon, and Justin Simmons. The Panthers figure to be better than they were while going 2-15 as well, so the NFC South should be competitive and hitting the ground running should help the Saints’ chances of navigating it successfully.