2015 Review
The New Orleans Saints are coming off a disappointing 7-9 season that saw them miss the playoffs for a second consecutive season. Though, this lack of success didn't really have much to do with the offense.
Drew Brees had another stellar statistical season, putting up a league-leading 4,870 yards to go with 32 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions. Meanwhile, receivers Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead combined to tally 153 receptions for over 2,000 yards. Here's a look at the Saints 2016 season from a fantasy perspective.
Quarterback: Drew Brees
As we mentioned above, Brees had himself another outstanding statistical season in 2015, ranking sixth among quarterbacks in fantasy points for a second consecutive year. Unfortunately, Brees finished 13th at his position in consistency, putting up 15-plus fantasy points 73 percent of the time. All said, 25 percent of Brees' fantasy points came in just two games.
That's the only real concern here. Can Brees' consistency match his overall value this season? The good news here is that the Saints return a solid core group to help Brees continue to succeed from a fantasy perspective. They also added a talented young receiver in Michael Thomas in the second round and a solid pass-catching tight end in Coby Fleener in free agency.
With an ADP that has him as the sixth quarterback off the board in the fifth round, Brees' value is right there. That's been his standing the past two seasons and represents his floor in 2016.
Running Back: Mark Ingram
Despite missing four games to injury last season, Ingram was still able to tally 1,174 total yards with six touchdowns. It represnted the second consecutive season that he's put up 1,100-plus yards. It also enabled Ingram to finish as the 15th-best fantasy running back for the second consecutive season.
All this seems to be an indication that the former first-round pick's fantasy value is trending upward. After all, he was able to do that while missing a quarter of the games last season.
Without much in terms of competition for touches, it wouldn't be too surprising to see Ingram put up 250-plus rush attempts and over 300 total touches. If that's the case, he's going to be much more valuable than his No. 11 ranking among running backs in terms of ADP.
Wide Receiver: Brandin Cooks, Willie Snead
Cooks' PPR value is going to be through the roof this season. Here's a dude that put up a 65 percent catch rate on 129 targets last year. He did so with the departed Marques Colston still accounting for nearly 70 targets. Without Colston in the mix, there's no reason to believe Cooks' targets won't increase. Add in a building relationship with Brees, and there's every reason to believe he'll see an uptick in production from last season's No. 12 fantasy ranking among receivers. With an ADP that has him as the 13th receiver off the board, there's a lot to like here.
The same can be said for Snead, who finished last season — his first in the NFL — with nearly 1,000 receiving yards and three scores. This was good enough for his value to stand as a mid-tier bench option in 12-team leagues. All said, Snead caught 68 percent of the 101 passes thrown in his direction. As with Cooks, look for an uptick in targets and production here. And should Snead increase his touchdown total from the three he put up last season, WR2 production isn't out of the question.
Tight End: Coby Fleener
Fleener struggled big time in Indy last season, putting up just 54 receptions for 491 yards. That came on the heels of him finishing the 2014 season as the sixth-best fantasy tight end. Now in a tight end friendly offense with a quarterback that loves to target this position, the expectation here has to be that Fleener will have a bounce back campaign. After all, Saints tight ends did catch 101 passes in 2015. Now that Fleener is the team's primary pass-catching tight end, we should be looking at a top-five fantasy season here.