METAIRIE - Coming off a 12-6, NFC South championship season that ended with a whisker miss of the NFC Championship Game with a young team, Super Bowl expectations for the New Orleans Saints are not a reach.
And the Saints have them as they opened training camp for the 2018 season over the weekend. Big time.
They also have a 17-year veteran quarterback in Drew Brees with a Super Bowl ring, 11 Pro Bowls, seven NFL passing crowns, four NFL touchdown crowns and two NFL offensive player of the year awards. And he has heard this before.
It was in 2014 at about his time, as a matter of fact. The Saints were coming off a 12-6 season as well when they finished second in the NFC South and collected their only road playoff win in history at Philadelphia before a 23-15 loss at eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle.
Hopes were high in 2014 Predictions were lofty. The Saints were back after a 7-9 season in 2012 without Coach Sean Payton, who was suspended for his role in Bounty Gate.
But it did not materialize. The Saints finished 7-9 and finished 7-9 two more times before the 2017 season. If New Orleans advances in the playoffs this season, it will mark the first time in franchise history it did that in consecutive seasons.
"Well, similar talk, and yet completely different locker room," Brees said after practice on Thursday. "Completely different circumstances. If you recall, we had this success in 2013, where we felt like we had a team that was good enough to win. But we lose to Seattle, and they go on and win the Super Bowl. So, we felt like we were there, and ready to take the next step. But we lost five pretty incredible leaders and highly productive players out of the locker room on both sides of the ball, and it just changed the culture, changed the dynamics."
Playing their final game for the Saints that Jan. 11 of 2014 in Seattle were actually six veteran starters on New Orleans' Super Bowl XLIV championship team of 2009-10 along with safety Roman Harper, who left for two seasons before returning in 2016 to finish his career with the Saints.
In that group were two first round picks in defensive end Will Smith, a Saints Hall of Famer, and safety Malcolm Jenkins and a second round pick in Harper.
There was also middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma, a three-time Pro Bowler also in the Saints Hall of Fame, as well as cornerback Jabari Greer, wide receiver Lance Moore and kicker Garrett Hartley, whose 40-yard field goal in overtime beat Minnesota, 31-28, in overtime and sent New Orleans to that Super Bowl.
They were not truly replaced on the field or in the locker room.
"We felt like we were young, talented with guys ready to step up, and unfortunately, that just wasn't the case," Brees said.
Harper was released in February of 2014 and signed by Carolina. Smith was released that February, signed by New England in April, but released that August. He settled in New Orleans with his wife and family but was murdered on April 9, 2016, in New Orleans.
Vilma retired. Greer tore his anterior cruciate ligament in 2013 and was released by the Saints in February of 2014. Moore was released that March, then released by Pittsburgh before playing for Detroit in 2015 and later retiring in 2017. Hartley struggled with consistency in 2013 and was released on Dec. 17, 2013, after missing two field goals two days prior in a 27-16 loss at St. Louis. He was unable to stick with Cleveland in 2014 or Pittsburgh in 2015 and has been out of football.
Jenkins was the mistake. The Saints chose not to sign him in 2014, and Philadelphia did. He remains a starter there, having won a second Super Bowl ring last season.
The losses from 2017 to 2018 for the Saints are nothing like 2013 to 2014. The only starter not returning is safety Kenny Vaccaro, a 2013 first round pick who the Saints elected not to sign, and so far no other team has either. Zach Strief, a starter from 2011-16 after getting picked in the seventh round in 2006, retired after the 2017 season following missing most of the season with a knee injury. A graduate of Northwestern in communications, he was just named the new Voice of the Saints replacing the retired Jim Henderson.
Wide receiver Willie Snead, who was second on the team in receptions in 2016 with 69 for 984 yards, was let go by the Saints following the 2017 season when he caught just eight passes for 92 yards following a three-game suspension stemming from a drunken driving crash. He was signed by Baltimore.
The Saints are largely young, but do return a core of continuous veterans of the Saints organization, including Brees (17 years), punter Thomas Morstead (nine years), defensive end Cameron Jordan (seven years), running back Mark Ingram (seven years), offensive tackle Terron Armstead (five years), tight end Josh Hill (five years), wide receiver Brandon Coleman (four years), offensive tackle Andrus Peat (three years), defensive tackle Tyeler Davison (three years) and cornerback P.J. Williams (three years).
The Saints have added two other veterans this off-season who were previously Saints - 11-year veteran offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod and 14-year veteran tight end Ben Watson.
A fourth round pick by New Orleans in 2007, Bushrod started 14 games at left tackle in the 2009-10 Super Bowl season and continued to start through 2012 before signing a five-year, free agent contract with Chicago in 2013, then playing the last two years with Miami. His versatility will add depth to the Saints' line.
A Saints' free agent signing in 2013, Watson caught 74 passes for 825 yards in New Orleans in 2015 before signing with Baltimore and playing there the last two seasons.
There is also defensive end Alex Okafor, a five-year veteran who signed with the Saints in 2017 after four years with Arizona. In 10 starts last season before an Achilles injury ended his season, he had 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles while making 43 tackles.
Other veterans added to the mix this off-season are eight-year safety Kurt Coleman and six-year inside linebacker Demario Davis. Coleman started regularly the last three seasons at Carolina and started regularly in 2011 and 12 in Philadelphia. Davis has been a starter the last five seasons - 2017 with the New York Jets, 2016 at Cleveland and 2013-15 with the Jets.
"I think any good team that you've been a part of usually has good leadership," Payton said. "Every time we sit and go through the opportunity to sign a player, we talk about vision. And not only is there a vision for that player on the field, but from a leadership standpoint as a teammate. Those things began to take place in the off-season program."
Brees sounds like he sees it this time a bit clearer than in 2014, at least in hindsight.
"The differences are we haven't lost veteran guys," he said. "We've gone and acquired some more veteran leadership and some guys that are great in the locker room - great leaders. We've got the young talent that is continuing to develop. But it is about making sure that you have the cultural foundation, which we did not have back in 2014. I feel like we have it this year and have to continue to cultivate it."
CAMP NOTES: Rookie wide receiver Tre'Quan Smith, a third round pick out of Central Florida, has been turning heads through the first few practices. "I thought he had a pretty good off-season," Payton said Saturday. "We'll see the film, but I thought he was solid."... Dan Arnold, a non-drafted wide receiver signee in 2017 out of Wisconsin-Platteville, has been moved to tight end. "With the depth we're at at receiver, he's someone who has a big body (6-foot-6, 220). He was cutting weight, and really easily could get to 240." ... Payton on first round pick defensive end Marcus Davenport of Texas-San Antonio: "He has to be able to play the defense called and then the technique and how he plays it both in the run and in the pass." ... Outside linebacker Alex Anzalone, a third round pick in 2017 out of Florida who started the first four games last year before a shoulder injury that required surgery, impressed Payton. "He can run," he said. "He made a play on the sideline. He's healthy, and it's good to have him back out there."