Fantasy Football Rankings: Saints Players You Should Draft, Avoid This Season

Editor?s note: To help you prepare for your fantasy football draft, NESN.com will profile each NFL team and analyze which players are worth picking and which players aren?t worth your time. Today, we look at the Saints.

The New Orleans Saints once again came up a bit short in 2015, but they still produced plenty of solid fantasy football options for owners.

And the same should be the case for this season.

Let’s take a look at some of Saints players you should draft, potential sleepers and the ones you should avoid for this season.

DRAFT-WORTHY
Drew Brees, Quarterback: Even at 37 years old, Brees still should be a top-tier fantasy football quarterback this season. He threw for 32 touchdowns with only 11 interceptions last year, and ESPN projects similar output in 2016. He should be picked around the No. 5-7 QB in your draft.

Mark Ingram, Running Back: Ingram only played in 12 games last season,and his stats understandably took a bit of a hit, but expectations still are high for him in 2016. Ingram likely projects as a second-round pick and potentially presents great value if other wary owners pass on him.

Brandin Cooks, Wide Receiver: It didn’t take long for Cooks to become Brees’ No. 1 target, which is good news for fantasy owners. He had 1,138 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 129 targets in his second year in the league, which means he likely will be picked during Rounds 2-4.

Coby Fleener, Tight End: The Saints have so many offensive weapons, and there are only so may targets to go around. But Fleener should see plenty of them as the Saints new tight end. He arguably could be the third tight end picked in fantasy drafts behind Rob Gronkowski and Jordan Reed.

AVOID
Saints Defense: The Saints’ defense was the NFL’s second-worst last season, which should be reason enough to look elsewhere for your fantasy defense. But, hey, at least they weren’t as bad as the Giants’ last season.

SLEEPER
Michael Thomas, Wide Receiver: It admittedly will be hard for the Saints’ second-round pick to emerge from the pack right away give how many targets New Orleans already has on offense. But young wide receivers have thrived right away in this system before — Cooks, Willie Snead — and the same could happen for Thomas.

Thumbnail photo via Derick E. Hingle/USA TODAY Sports Images