Few teams have broadcast their intentions more loudly and more broadly than the New Orleans Saints have this year: they want to trade for another cornerback. Ever since the NFL’s unprecedented salary cap plunge forced them to cut Janoris Jenkins as a cap casualty, the Saints have searched high and low for more help in the secondary. Sean Payton has repeatedly described the position as his top priority for months.
Their efforts go back to the draft in April, when the Saints called anyone picking in the top 10 who would pick up their phone, targeting top prospects Jaycee Horn and Patrick Surtain II. More recent reports in early August linked the Saints to the Jacksonville Jaguars and mercurial starter C.J. Henderson. But more trades continue to be completed across the NFL, and none of them have involved the Saints. What gives?
On Friday, Sept. 3, the Steelers traded a 2023 fifth rounder for benched Seahawks starter Akhello Weatherspoon. On Oct. 30, the Seahawks traded a sixth round pick for Jaguars corner Sidney Jones IV. Days earlier, the Patriots acquired Ravens rookie Shaun Wade for a 2022 seventh rounder and 2023 fifth round choice. Back on Aug. 23, the Texans swapped a 2022 seventh rounder for Packers backup Ka’dar Hollman, who was later cut and landed with the Saints practice squad. Other options like Isaac Yiadom (Giants to Packers) and Josh Jackson (Packers to Giants), and John Reid (from Texans to Seahawks, for a conditional seventh rounder in 2023) have all been dealt.
For the folks keeping score at home, that’s seven different cornerbacks changing teams in less than three weeks. And the Saints, for all the chatter surrounding their interest in the trade market and the clear need on the roster, have stayed out of it.
Have they been unable to seal the deal? Were they unwilling to put future draft picks on the table? The salary cap for once wasn’t an obstacle (the team currently boasts cap space in the double digits). The team has a ton of picks to use next year between their own selections and multiple compensatory choices in the forecast. To make sense of their inaction, we’ve got to consider the context of the players being moved.
So far, no cornerback has been traded over the last month for much better than a fifth rounder two years from now. The players being offloaded aren’t likely to be ready to start, at least not over the Saints’ own in-house options of Ken Crawley and Paulson Adebo. A rookie fifth rounder like Wade wouldn’t get the nod over Adebo, a third round pick this year, for example. Maybe Jones would have made sense but his up-and-down play in the NFL and significant injury history are a tough sell.
At this point, there haven’t been any corners available for trade that would be worth the Saints’ while. None of those players are upgrading Crawley and Adebo. There’s an argument for improving the depth chart behind those top three corners but you shouldn’t burn a future draft pick for that when there are still free agents available.
Still, it feels inevitable that the Saints are going to add another corner soon — one way or another. The 53-man roster currently has three and a half corners between Marshon Lattimore, Crawley, Adebo, and part-time free safety P.J. Williams, with three others held in reserve on the practice squad (KeiVarae Russell, Bryan Mills, and Ka’dar Hollman). How many of those players are you ready to throw into a game against Calvin Ridley, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Robby Anderson, DJ Moore, or Terrace Marshall?
If they can’t make a splash through a trade, maybe the Saints convince someone like Desmond Trufant or Josh Norman to sign for near-veteran’s minimum to warm up and wait on the sidelines on game days. But given the team’s need for greater help and the resources burning a hole in their wallet, you’ve got to think the clock is already ticking on some sort of move.
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