NFL Teams That Are Failing Their Rebuild Plans in 2024

The New Orleans Saints are a little different than the other four teams on this list. They aren’t the typical rebuilding team because they refuse to acknowledge that they should be rebuilding in the first place.

Rather than get their books in order, shed veteran salaries for future draft picks and reload their roster, they continue to choose to run things back while losing talent every offseason.

New Orleans is routinely up against the cap every offseason. It’s already a projected $99.5 million over the cap for the 2025 season, per Spotrac. There’s merit to a team kicking the financial can down the road and keeping a roster intact when it’s chasing a Super Bowl. That’s not what the Saints are doing, though.

Rather than trade and release players to create cap space, they continued to restructure just about every contract possible. They also signed Tyrann Mathieu to a two-year extension that has three void years attached.

The 32-year-old is a fan favorite, and keeping him around is something the fans will appreciate. But at some point, the goal should be to do something more than win the NFC South.

The Saints did sign Chase Young to a one-year contract, but they’ll have to do even more cap maneuvering to sign him to another deal next offseason if he produces. Willie Gay Jr. was their only other notable addition in free agency.

Are those two, combined with new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, enough to improve on their 9-8 record last year?

Missing the playoffs for the last three seasons wasn’t the impetus New Orleans needed to blow things up a bit. Perhaps a fourth consecutive season will be the motivation it needs to reset things in 2025.