LATEST NEWS:New Orleans Saints Parting Ways With Offensive Line Coach Doug Marrone

On Saturday night, the news broke first by Nick Underhill of neworleans.football that Doug Marrone, the offensive line coach for the New Orleans Saints, was leaving his position. Following reports on Friday that the Saints will appoint San Francisco 49ers passing game coordinator Klint Kubiak as their next offensive coordinator following Sunday’s Super Bowl, this news has been released.

Marrone,59, recently concluded his second season as a member of the Saints. He spent three years as the offensive coordinator for Sean Payton’s first staff in New Orleans back in 2006. The Saints finished with a top-5 scoring offense twice over those three seasons and twice finished first in both total offensive yardage and throwing productivity.

Marrone left in 2009 to take a position as Syracuse University’s head coach. Following four years there, he was hired as the Buffalo Bills’ head coach, a role he played for two seasons. He was hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014 to teach their offensive line. However, he was elevated to the position of interim head coach at the end of 2015, and the following year, he became the full-time head coach.

For six seasons, Marrone led the Jaguars to the 2018 AFC Championship Game while serving as their coach. After the 2020 season, he was fired and hired by the University of Alabama as their offensive line coach. With their only losses coming from Georgia in the SEC and National Championship games, the Crimson Tide completed 2021 with a 13-2 record.

Dennis Allen was appointed head coach in 2022 after Sean Payton resigned, and he brought Marrone back to New Orleans. Since quarterback Drew Brees announced his retirement following the 2020 season, the offense as a whole has suffered greatly. The Saints have rated in the lower half of the NFL in terms of rushing average and have managed to produce less than 110 rushing yards per game since Marrone’s return. In 2023, their 3.6 yards per carry placed them 31st in the league. Inadequate pass protection, which occasionally verges on the pitiful, has also set the attack in motion.

Under Marrone, the quarterbacks for New Orleans were sacked 73 times in 34 games and were frequently under constant pressure. This was caused by the quarterback holding onto the ball for an extended period of time and injuries. But when facing inside twists, stunts, and blitzes from opposing opponents, the Saints were frequently rendered absolutely defenseless.

The lack of progress from their young linemen was maybe Marrone’s worst accusation. Nick Saldiveri, a rookie selected in the fourth round, only saw 18 offensive snaps in spite of anterior blocking problems and injuries. A first-round selection in 2020, starting RG Cesar Ruiz, regressed severely in 2023 after at last displaying some potential the season before.

Perhaps Marrone’s harshest charge against their young lineman was their lack of improvement. Despite anterior blocking issues and injuries, fourth-round rookie Nick Saldiveri only saw eighteen offensive snaps. Starting RG Cesar Ruiz, a first-round pick in 2020, drastically declined in 2023 after showing some promise the previous season.