Any time a trade goes down in the NFL, someone walks away feeling like a winner. That’s true of every deal, so which team won the New Orleans Saints’ trade with the Washington Commanders that swapped Marshon Lattimore for a grab-bag of draft picks?
According to The 33rd Team, both teams won. Washington got a four-time cornerback and a fifth-round choice in next year’s draft. That was good enough to earn an “A” grade. New Orleans was graded with an “A-minus” for acquiring picks in rounds three, four, and six. That last pick is coming back to the Saints after they traded for defensive tackle John Ridgeway III earlier this year, so you could throw him in the deal along with the conditional seventh rounder New Orleans may or may not be getting with him.
Either way, that’s a strong return for a cornerback in today’s market. Comparable players like Jalen Ramsey and L’Jarius Sneed have been dealt for less. For the most part, Mickey Loomis and the Saints did good work here.
There’s just one more thing. Why is it an A-minus in straight of a straight-A? There are two points of criticism from the Saints’ side of this deal. For one thing, they shouldn’t have sent back a pick to Washington. Or it should have been a later-round choice. That alone tips the scales back into the Commanders’ favor. For another point of contention, the Saints received the less-valuable pick in the third round of Washington’s two selections. If current standings hold, the pick the Saints are getting will be slotted in 21 picks after the other one (which is going to the Commanders from the Miami Dolphins).
Maybe it was never on the table. Maybe Washington balked at including it in favor of throwing in those other picks later on. Either way it looks like a missed opportunity for Loomis and the Saints to get maximum value.
It’s behind us now, though. What matters is the decision-makers on both sides walked away from this trade happy with what they got. Now the Saints need to put those resources to good use in rebuilding their team after too many years spent propping up Loomis and Dennis Allen’s flawed vision.
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