| Good morning, and welcome to the February 19 edition of the Saints Insider newsletter. This is a relatively quiet time in the NFL calendar before things soon pick up, but there's still plenty to read about. Start with none other than Jimmy Graham — the New Orleans Saints tight end who announced an ambitious plan to break a world record ... by rowing non stop across the Arctic Ocean. Graham said that next year, he plans to participate in a four-person crew that intends to break the speed record for rowing across the Arctic Ocean. To break the record, Graham's crew will need to cover 1,000 kilometers in less than 15 days, five hours and 32 minutes. That seems daunting, but then again, that's shorter than it took the Saints to realize Graham could still be a useful option in the red zone last season. Hey now! If anyone is up for the challenge, it should be Graham. This is a man, after all, who spent 2022 out of football and took up cycling across the world instead. Graham detailed that adventure in a wonderful story that our Luke Johnson wrote last season. If you haven't read that, I highly encourage you to do so. Budget keeping notesTuesday marks the deadline for NFL teams to apply the franchise tag on players, something the Saints haven't done since 2021 when they used it on safety Marcus Williams. That's not expected to change this year. In any event, though, the Saints have work to do to get under the cap in time for the start of free agency next month. While there's no need to panic — by now, you likely know this is an annual occurrence for the Saints — take the time to read our premier on the more than $80 million New Orleans has to clear to get cap compliant, in case you missed it. The Saints Insider crew also previewed a little bit of free agency last week when we talked about which free-agent signings might fit the Saints best. (Spoiler: I spotlighted two pass rushers, one of whom had a big game in the Super Bowl.) As a reminder, we host at least one show per week during the offseason, so if you like what you hear, please subscribe and send some questions or comments our way. Super Bowl oddsBy now, you know that New Orleans will host the Super Bowl next year. But oddsmakers don't like the chances of the Saints being the team to win it. Staff writer Spencer Urquhart took a look at the long odds facing the Saints to win the Super Bowl in the Caesars Superdome next season. This Saints Insider's take: The long odds shouldn't come as a surprise given the Saints have missed the playoffs three years in a row and face a challenging path to dramatically improving the roster. If you're looking for optimism, maybe Klint Kubiak's hire as offensive coordinator is enough to jolt the Saints offense and get this group back into playoff contention. But yeah... reaching the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl are two entirely different things. New Orleans has a lot to prove before those odds improve anytime soon. Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for reading! Cheers, Matthew Paras | 