Despite finishing in the top ten for scoring and the top half of the league in yards per game in 2023, the New Orleans Saints recognized they needed to change their identity on offense. Though those 2023 numbers sound promising, the team’s offense was very inconsistent and boom-bust, making it difficult to win games reliably. Due to this, the team moved on from offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. and hired Klint Kubiak this offseason. It’s only been one game against one of the worst teams in the NFL, but the early showings of Kubiak’s offense are promising and have shown what the team’s personnel is capable of in a modern-day offense.

Changes on the Roster for 2024

Before getting into how the offense looks different, I think it’s important to first look at new additions to the team's starters to have some context. The team’s weapons at running back, receiver, and tight end are mostly the same with the exceptions of the addition of free agent Cedrick Wilson, 2024 fifth-round pick Bub Means, and 2024 undrafted rookie free agent Mason Tipton. While none of these players made a significant impact on Sunday, we did see more of an impact from the changes to the offensive line. 

The team made a much-needed overhaul at offensive line by moving on from left tackle Andrus Peat and replacing him with 2024 first-round pick Taliese Fuaga, replacing guard James Hurst with Lucas Patrick, and moving Trevor Penning from left tackle to right tackle to replace right tackle Ryan Ramcyzk due to a knee injury. So, a lot of changes but all that looks promising so far even when considering the level of competition they faced on Sunday. This should also only get better as Fuaga adjusts to the NFL and Penning gets acclimated to the right side of the line. 

Play Design Evolution

Getting to the changes in offensive philosophy, the first thing that is apparent on every snap in Klint Kubiak’s offense is the high rate of motion. Despite the league moving towards using more motion on a regular basis, Pete Carmichael Jr. continued to have one of the most stationary offenses in the NFL for the past few years using pre-snap motion on just 44% of pass attempts in 2023. Also, Carmichael Jr. minimally used play action with Derek Carr only using play action on 14.8% of dropbacks last season. While some coordinators use deception to win, Carmichael Jr. instead relied more on an offensive philosophy of “what you see is what you get.”

However, Kubiak comes from the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree which is the antithesis of these concepts. We saw this on Sunday with the Saints having the highest rate of pre-snap motion per play in the entire league using this on 88% of pass plays. Also, the team had the third-highest rate of play action this Sunday using play action on 42.3% of the team’s dropbacks. So, we saw both the use of pre-snap motion and the use of play action at least double with Kubiak compared to last season.

Change in Method of Attack

While the team still uses a high rate of 22-personnel, two tight end/two receiver sets, the way they attack defenses is completely different. With Kubiak coming from the Shanahan coaching tree, his offense has an emphasis on stretching the defense horizontally in both the run and pass game. 

While Carmichael Jr. often tried to attack the defense on the ground by running right up the middle which can provide small consistent gains, Kubiak and his style of offense attacked the defense with more stretch, toss, and swing pass plays to get Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill in space and use their explosiveness for big plays. When the team did rush up the middle, they ran misdirections to get the defense leaning one way to give Kamara and Hill cutback opportunities. This method of attack works with explosive athletes and a good group of zone blockers but especially works when playing against an undisciplined defense like the Carolina Panthers have.

In the passing game, Kubiak used pre-snap motion throughout the game to give his receivers free releases and easy completions for Carr. This worked especially well with the high rate of condensed formations making it harder for defenses to sort through each other and requiring good communication which isn’t always there in week one and clearly wasn’t there for them on Sunday. Kubiak’s style of offense also has an emphasis on attacking the intermediate parts of the field which we saw with Carr completing five of six of his passes between 10 to 20 yards from the line of scrimmage. Also, between getting easier completions thanks to a higher use of motion and more of a focus on the intermediate parts of the field rather than deeper parts of the field, the offensive line had an easier time keeping Carr clean.

Is it Sustainable?

While the early showings are great, I need to continue to emphasize this came against an unpolished Carolina Panthers that didn’t look ready to play. The offense could continue to look this great throughout the season, but I don’t want to jump the gun and declare that the offense is saved just yet. That being said, the coaching staff deserves recognition for identifying they were playing an undisciplined defense and taking advantage of them throughout the game.

Going forward, I want to see if the offensive line can continue to gel together and be a much better unit than in 2023. The team already looks like they found a franchise tackle in Fuaga and Penning looked better this weekend than he did all throughout last season. However, they’ll need to continue to pass the eye test against better competition throughout the season. 

The offense and especially the offensive line will get a good test this coming weekend against the Dallas Cowboys. Now that it’s clear how the offense has changed and become modernized, it will be interesting to see how teams handle the offense now that they have access to regular season film. It will be a tough test but if the offense still looks this strong against the Cowboys, the Saints will be serious contenders for a division title.