The 2017 Draft replenished the Saints roster.  New Orleans roster drafted CB Marshon Lattimore with the 11th overall pick, OT Ryan Ramczyk with the 32nd pick, S Marcus Williams with the 42nd pick, Alvin Kamara with the 67th pick.  Those four players have been incredible additions for the team: Kamara and Ramczyk are two of the four Saints with 15+ points of AV in 2018, while the two defensive backs each started 16 games.  In addition, LB Alex Anzalone — taken with the 76th pick — started 7 games this year.

In the 2017 offseason, the Saints also signed ex-Lions guard Larry Warford, ex-Panthers linebacker A.J. Klein, and ex-Cardinals pass rusher Alex Okafor. Those three players were all regular starters on the 2018 Saints.  In fact, 7 of the 16 Saints players with 6+ points of AV this year were added in 2017.   The Saints, in some ways like the Patriots, are here because of their famous quarterback/head coach combo.  Sean Payton and Drew Brees both came to New Orleans in 2006, but the Saints had just completed back-to-back-to-back 7-9 seasons at the end of the 2016 season.  From 2014 to 2016, New Orleans had been outscored by 76 points.  As good as Brees and Payton are, they wouldn’t be here today without what happened in the spring of 2017.

The graph below shows the AV on the 2018 Saints from players drafted by New Orleans (in gold) and drafted or otherwise acquired by New Orleans (in black) from each year since 2006.

Last year, New Orleans nearly made it this far on the backs of those seven players, Brees and Payton, too. It’s been a remarkable two-year run for the Saints, and a reminder that in one offseason, any team can turn it around (and that goes double if you have a Hall of Fame quarterback).