The New Orleans Saints are now walking on a tightrope, standing at 2-5. The tough situation led head coach Kellen Moore to shake things up in the coaching staff. They were waiting for their bye week to get over and are now parting ways with run game coordinator T.J. Paganetti. The impact has flown out of the Saints camp as former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce came up with a heartfelt message.
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“I don’t comment on things like this often, but T.J. Is an outstanding coach,” wrote Kelce on X. “He brought a ton of value for us in Philadelphia, and was a big part of our success up front. One of my favorite coaches from my time with the Eagles. He’s extremely knowledgeable, driven, and always worked his a** off to put the players in positions to succeed, I respect him greatly. A lot of teams are in need of good coaches, the team that hires him is getting a great one.”
Kelce’s message came after NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport’s report, which stated that the running game issues are what pushed Moore to make the decision and fire Paganetti, who served as assistant offensive line coach during the Eagles’ Super Bowl LII and LIX victories, contributing to the offensive line’s success.
The Saints’ struggles on the ground have become a persistent concern, with their rushing attack ranking among the least productive in the NFL. Through the 2026 season, the team has averaged just 86 rushing yards per game, placing 28th in the league. Their average of 3.5 yards per carry is even more concerning, ranking 30th among all teams.
Turns out that Moore and the Saints’ patience ran thin for Paganetti, who was hired when the team flipped its coaching staff during the 2025 offseason. After all, these struggles did not emerge overnight. New Orleans has been dealing with similar problems since the start of the 2025 season. They averaged only 94.3 rushing yards per game and 3.7 yards per carry last year.
Since the beginning of the 2025 season, Saints running backs have managed just 29 carries of at least 10 yards and only two runs of 20 or more yards. Both totals are the lowest in the NFL. But Moore did not make the call this offseason and wanted to give Paganetti another chance, with whom he worked in Philadelphia and pulled off a dominant and one of the best offensive lines in the league.
When it comes to Kelce, he, too, played under the coach in Philadelphia. The center’s stint in the Eagles squad stretched from 2011 to 2023. In this period, Paganetti served as Philadelphia’s offensive and quarterbacks analyst for one season, 2013-2014, and returned for his second stint in 2017 as an assistant offensive line coach and remained with the offensive coaching staff till 2024.
Paganetti’s run with the Eagles came with two Super Bowls, LII and LIX. But he was not able to carry that momentum into the Saints squad. Speaking after the loss in Paris, Moore had already given a heads-up that the bye week would give the team an opportunity to reflect on its performances and assess where adjustments might be needed.
“Any time you go into a bye week, you go into evaluation mode as far as identifying the things you need to work on and solving those,” Moore said.
As the Saints returned from their bye week, Saints guard David Edwards addressed the media on Monday and expressed regret over Paganetti’s exit. He acknowledged that the players also shared responsibility for the offense’s failure to execute.
“You know, I wish we as players, everybody, did a better job for him. And again, it’s just like the hard part of this business is it’s performance-based, and we haven’t gotten it done to a point,” he said.
As the Saints wave goodbye to Paganetti, Kelce’s heart is bleeding for a coach who has no apparent connection with New Orleans.