If you’re passionate about the New Orleans Saints, stop reading this now and listen to this week’s Scouting the League Podcast. Rodrik and I welcomed Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football, the leading service for Saints information, in my opinion. Nick and his team (including another longtime Saints beat writer, Jeff Triplett) have revolutionized how to cover an NFL team. It’s well worth the $89 annual subscription if you’re part of the Who Dat Nation. 

Anyway, we didn’t pull any punches with Nick and asked him to go on the record with his thoughts about how the team has been managed and coached, as well as his thoughts on who should be the next coach, the fate of several key Saints and other related topics. We don’t have beat writers on the podcast often, so when we do, we try to squeeze every ounce of information out of them that we can, as we’ve previously done with Fran Duffy (who covers the Eagles), Aaron Wilson (Texans), Ben Standig (Commanders) and others. As always, we’re not afraid to cover the tough topics, but if you’re looking for a podcast that rips into owners, executives and players, look elsewhere. 

Our hour with Nick felt more like ten minutes, and when we finished, I felt like I had a lot more questions I’d like to ask. Here are a few of them.

• What position do the Saints address first in the draft?
• You said you’ve “never seen (the fanbase) the way it is now.” Would Saints fans withstand a “get well” year with Spencer Rattler as the starter? What if it dragged into two years of real bottom-dwelling?
• If Loomis had retired, would the team have stayed in the building for his replacement?
• The team has always been aggressive about trading up. Do you expect that philosophy to change now that there are so many holes? Will the team ever have a “load up on picks” philosophy?
• Cam Jordan didn’t seem to be on the same page with the team last offseason, losing weight to gain quickness, then being used inside at defensive tackle. What does this say about the organization? Was it more of a Dennis Allen situation?
• Does Taysom Hill return?
• Could Jon Gruden have fixed things?
• What’s the first thing you’d do to fix the offensive line? The defensive line? 
• Regardless of whether they keep or cut Derek Carr, should the Saints draft a QB in the first 100 picks? 
• Is there even a comp for the current Saints, as they have a disastrous cap situation, a very old team, and a question mark at QB? Can you think of a team in recent history who came back from such a situation, and how long did it take? 

Hey, maybe we’ll bring Nick back and ask all these questions. But for now, one hour is all we had, and if you are interested in team-building in general and the Saints in particular, I encourage you to check out the podcast, as well as some of our other episodes. I think you’ll enjoy them. 

You’ll also enjoy our newsletter, which comes out Fridays at 7:30 p.m. EST. Register for it here.