Why Saints Are Counting On More From Rookie Bub Means After Promising Outing

After the latest injury news, the Saints are desperately counting on a rookie receiver to quickly expand on the flashes he showed against Tampa Bay

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Bub Means (16) catches a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

New Orleans Saints rookie wide receiver Bub Means was one of the few bright spots in his team's demoralizing 51-27 defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. It wasn't technically a debut for Means, a fifth-round choice in this spring's draft out of Pitt. He had appeared in four of the first five games for the Saints. However, Sunday was his first significant offensive action.

After playing just 19 total offensive snaps in four games, Means saw 50 snaps against the Buccaneers. It came out of necessity. Leading receiver Chris Olave suffered a concussion on just the third offensive play of the game for the Saints and did not return.

Without Olave, the team turned to Means, undrafted rookie Mason Tipton, and veteran Cedrick Wilson to complement Rashid Shaheed at wide receiver.

Tipton had been the number three wideout through most of the first five contests. It was Means that saw the majority of the action against Tampa Bay, playing 50 of the Saints 70 offensive snaps. By contrast, Tipton had 29 snaps and Wilson saw 36 plays.

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Bub Means catches a second quarter touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers / neworleanssaints.com

Means made the most of his opportunity. He had 45 yards receiving, catching five of his eight targets. He'd tie for the team high on the day in both targets and receptions in an otherwise abysmal outing for the Saints in nearly every aspect. Prior to that game, he had been targeted just once without a catch.

Means also pulled in his first career touchdown against the Buccaneers. After a second quarter interception by Johnathan Abram, rookie QB Spencer Rattler hit Means on a beautiful 10-yard scoring strike to give New Orleans their first lead of the day. It was a perfectly executed corner route and a precise throw from Rattler, as Means showed impressive body control to get both feet down in bounds while hauling in the pass.

Coming into Sunday's game, Means, Tipton, and Wilson had combined for only 11 targets, six catches, and 28 yards. Tipton was responsible for five of those catches and 25 of the yards. Lack of complementary weapons at receiver outside of Olave and Shaheed has been a major weakness for the New Orleans offense.

Things have to change, and very quickly, if an injury-ravaged Saints offense is going to have any productivity.

New Orleans Saints receiver Bub Means (16) runs after a catch against the San Francisco 49ers in preseason action / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

New Orleans has a fast turnaround after Sunday's loss. They'll host the Denver Broncos and former coach Sean Payton this Thursday night. Rattler will make his second straight start in place of an injured Derek Carr. As if it wasn't bad enough that Rattler has a skeleton crew in front of him on the offensive line because of injuries, he'll also be working with a decimated receiving unit.

Chris Olave seems unlikely to clear concussion protocol with a Thursday night game. (gotta appear like you actually care about ''player safety'' when we all know otherwise, right, Mr. Goodell?) Making matters worse, Rashid Shaheed sustained a knee injury that may force him to also miss some time, per reports.

A bad situation gets even worse for a New Orleans offense that showed so much promise to start the season. Now, the Saints face a must-win situation on a short week against their former coach with a massively shorthanded offense and an underachieving defense.

Bub Means, Mason Tipton, and Cedrick Wilson seem likely to be Rattler's top three wide receivers against the 3-3 Broncos. Denver's defense ranks fourth overall and fifth against the pass.

Rattler also had some promising moments against Tampa Bay, particularly in the first half. He and fellow rookie wideouts Means and Tipton must now expand on the flashes that they've shown on a short week.

Bub Means played collegiately at Tennessee and Louisiana Tech before playing out his final two seasons at Pitt. His best year was in 2023, leading the Panthers with 721 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 41 receptions. He also led the ACC in contested catches last season. It's that kind of production that the Saints desperately need from Means on Thursday and beyond after his promising outing against the Buccaneers.