The Saints Need To Prioritize Youth Moving Forward

After a horrible loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the New Orleans Saints' momentum, which had been strong for weeks, was destroyed. Last week against the Las Vegas Raiders, this is when some hope began to dwindle, but with all the emotions invested in Monday Night Football, nearly all of it was lost. 

The Saints had a bunch of glaring issues in the same game; some they could control, others they couldn't. One of the mistakes the Saints and Kellen Moore continued to make that can be fixed is with the players. It's becoming increasingly clear that the Saints are making a massive mistake by not playing enough of their young players. For such an inexperienced team, that should come as a shock, but the veterans that are on the roster are not doing enough to keep their backups off the field. 

Let's start with the obvious choices. There is absolutely no reason CJ Donaldson is not playing. A preseason standout in the running game, he's been one of the best blockers when used, and he brings something different to this RB group with his strength. We even saw that when he began to play on the last drive against Atlanta, Donaldson had some great runs. With Kendre Miller's struggles, Donaldson should be RB2 next week, and really until Travis Etienne comes back. 

The other player who should start right away is Christen Miller. In the 2026 Draft, with defensive tackle being a need. the Saints selected Miller out of Georgia. The young defensive lineman has been on and off the injury report, but when he played in the preseason, he was the best defensive player on the field. So far in the regular season, Miller has also been dealing with injuries, but for the Falcons game, he was a healthy scratch. 

Davon Godchaux, the player right ahead of Miller at nose tackle, hasn't been great and hasn't impacted the run defense enough. He also suffered an injury late in the game, which would have been a great time for Miller to get some reps. Moving forward, Miller must at least get subbed into games, but it would be great to see him start. 

The last player I wanted to talk about is Jeremiah Wright. This one would be great to happen after a trade, but this offensive line needs some change. It's missing strenght, and that's what Wright has. Also, the Saints need to see what they have in their rookie offensive line. It could be early, but trading away Cesar Ruiz and starting Wright may be a good outcome.