The New Orleans Saints have agreed to trade their former head coach Sean Payton to the Denver Broncos in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft (at No. 29 overall) as well as a second rounder in 2024, giving up their third-round selection in 2024 to facilitate the trade.
But in a since-deleted tweet, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said that the Broncos offered an alternative: their 2024 first-round pick and a fourth rounder in 2023. Whether Schefter was doing damage control for his Denver sources in taking that tweet down or misunderstood what he was told, it makes a tantalizing offer. If the Saints passed on it, did they make the right call?
It’s worth considering. If the Broncos are still terrible in 2023, that first rounder in 2024 looks mighty valuable — the Saints were just on the wrong side of that equation in sending this year’s first-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles so they could get another selection in the last cycle. Only having a fourth-round pick to work with this year wouldn’t have been received well by the fanbase, but the opportunity to control a pair of first rounders in 2024 is really intriguing.
Ultimately, though, the Saints need to be competitive right now and getting that first-round draft choice for the current year is a major difference-maker. It’s going to allow them to (hopefully) find a player who can help them win football games in the fall. Dennis Allen’s job security hinges on a successful season and that starts by nailing this draft pick. He burned through his goodwill with the organization in a miserable 2022 season that highlighted all of his flaws as a head coach. He quite literally cannot afford another losing season.
Whether the Broncos ever truly offered an alternative compensation package is unclear after Schefter scrubbed evidence of it. But for Allen and the Saints, this was the only choice that made sense. Now let’s see that sense of urgency expressed in other areas.