Saints 2024 NFL Schedule Released for Derek Carr's 2nd Season with New Orleans (2024)

After a strong finish last season, the New Orleans Saints will look to carry their momentum into 2024 and end their three-year playoff drought.

The Saints won four of their last five games in 2023 to finish with a winning record (9-8), but they lost the NFC South on a tiebreaker to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their postseason drought is the longest since going 7-9 in three straight years from 2014 to '16.

Here's the schedule that New Orleans will have to contend with as it tries to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2021.

2024 Saints Schedule

Full schedule information available on the team's official website

Analysis

Things figure to get even tougher in the NFC South this year. The Bucs retained Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans in free agency. The Atlanta Falcons added Kirk Cousins to be their starting quarterback for first-year head coach Raheem Morris.

The Carolina Panthers have a better situation around second-year quarterback Bryce Young after investing heavily in their offensive line and receiver room in free agency and the draft.

Outside of their six divisional games, the Saints have to take on the NFC East and AFC West. They also got a bad draw in the games based on division standings last season with a home matchup against the Cleveland Browns and road showdown with the Green Bay Packers.

Eight of the Saints' 17 games are against teams that made the playoffs last season. Even though there are some rough stretches on the schedule, things do set up well for them to have success.

Per Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis, the Saints have the fifth-easiest schedule in the NFL based on every team's projected win total in 2024. The bad news, at least for their quest to make the playoffs, is the Falcons have the easiest schedule.

Even though the Saints exist in a constant state of salary-cap purgatory, they keep finding ways to add talent to their roster. They landed Chase Young, Willie Gay and Cedrick Wilson Jr. in free agency to fill out key depth spots.

Of course, a lot of focus is going to be on Derek Carr in his second season with the team. His 2023 performance was the quintessential Carr performance with good stats overall, but lacking when it comes to elevating the offense.

Carr threw for 3,878 yards, 25 touchdowns and completed 68.4 percent of his attempts. His 56.5 QBR ranked 16th out of 30 qualified quarterbacks. He had one of the highest checkdown rates from a clean pocket of any quarterback.

The Saints helped Carr out by investing the offensive line. Taliese Fuaga was the team's first-round draft pick at No. 14 overall. The Oregon State alum should step in as a starter immediately, especially if Ryan Ramczyk is forced to retire due to lingering issues with his right knee.

New Orleans had the fifth-worst pass-block win rate in NFL last season, per ESPN.com. Fuaga could play guard as a rookie before eventually shifting to tackle, but there's no reason to think he won't start right away.

Klint Kubiak is joining head coach Dennis Allen's staff as offensive coordinator. The 37-year-old has been an assistant in the league since 2016 and spent last season as the passing game coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers.

If the protection improves, Carr should be more consistent from week to week because he's surrounded by good playmakers.

Chris Olave is one of the best young wideouts in the NFL and has surpassed 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons. Alvin Kamara is slowing down at this point in his career, but he still finished 2023 with 1,160 yards from scrimmage and six total touchdowns. Rashid Shaheed has averaged 16.3 yards per reception over his first two seasons.

New Orleans doesn't have the benefit of a proven backup to rely on if something happens to Carr. Jameis Winston appeared in seven games last season, including an extended outing in Week 10 against the Minnesota Vikings when Carr suffered a concussion and shoulder injury.

Winston signed with the Cleveland Browns as a free agent. Jake Haener, a fourth-round draft pick in 2023, is currently the No. 2 quarterback for the Saints. Fifth-round rookie Spencer Rattler is an intriguing wild card if he can harness his arm talent into consistent production.

Pivotal Matchups

The 2023 Saints made a habit of losing to teams they probably shouldn't have. They were down 27-3 in the Vikings game with Joshua Dobbs starting for Minnesota before Carr got injured.

After the Vikings game, the Saints came out of their bye with an uninspiring performance in a 24-15 loss to the Falcons.

This is to say that the easiest way for the Saints to be a playoff contender in the NFC is to take advantage of opponents they are better than on paper. The Panthers, Denver Broncos and New York Giants should be four wins on their resume.

The Saints would have controlled their destiny in the NFC South if they swept the Bucs. Instead, the two teams split with each winning on the road. New Orleans was held to a season-low 197 yards and nine points in Week 3 against Tampa Bay.

If the Saints want to consider themselves as Super Bowl contenders, there are no shortage of games they can circle. The Browns could be a top-tier team if they get even adequate quarterback play because their defense once again looks loaded.

They have three road games against the Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys and reigning two-time Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. If they can steal even one of those games, it will go a long way toward getting them to the postseason.