Tag: draft picks

Saints have more Washington 2020 draft picks than the Commanders do

There are more players from Washington’s 2020 draft class in New Orleans than on the Commanders’ roster. But they outnumber the Saints’ own 2020 draft picks, too:

Don’t look now, but the New Orleans Saints have rostered more players from the Washington Commanders’ 2020 draft class than Washington themselves. There isn’t a single player that the Commanders picked in 2020 remaining in Washington. Two of them landed with the Saints this offseason: defensive end Chase Young (a first-round pick) and linebacker Khaleke Kudson (a fifth rounder). The Times-Picayune | Advocate’s Matthew Paras, a former Washington beat writer, first shared this observation.

But here’s the twist. There are more players from Washington’s 2020 draft class now suiting up for the Saints than New Orleans’ own 2020 draft haul. The Saints went into the 2020 draft talking up a quality-over-quantity approach, trading up three times and coming away with just four players: right guard Cesar Ruiz, linebacker Zack Baun, tight end Adam Trautman, and quarterback-turned-tight end Tommy Stevens.

That plan blew up in their face. The Saints cut Stevens early in the season after initially stashing him on their practice squad. They traded Trautman during the 2023 draft (to the Denver Broncos, reuniting him with Sean Payton). Baun left in free agency last month to sign a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. The only player remaining from that four-man band is Ruiz, who signed a contract extension last September.

So the Saints have two players from Washington’s 2020 draft class and just one of their own. That’s not the best of resources by either team. Regime change has already come for the Commanders (plus a change in ownership), and it might be on the way for New Orleans if the Saints miss the playoffs for the fourth year in a row and the third season with Dennis Allen as head coach. Hopefully they can turn things around, one way or another.

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Saints enter the mix for a 2025 comp pick thanks to Isaac Yiadom

The Saints entered the mix for a 2025 compensatory draft pick thanks to Isaac Yiadom. But they haven’t locked it in just yet:

The New Orelans Saints could be in play for a 2025 compensatory draft selection after the San Francisco 49ers signed away cornerback Isaac Yiadom this offseason according to OverTheCap’s Nick Korte.

After being a career journeyman that had not found much time on the field in the past few years, Yiadom found a resurgence in New Orleans. Once Marshon Lattimore went down with a midseason injury, Yiadom was called on to pick up the slack and he did more than just be a replacement-level player. He was very solid this year with the Saints and earned a bigger contract in San Francisco, reportedly worth $3 million.

The Saints currently own their first six draft picks in 2025. Their own seventh round draft selection was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in the C.J. Gardner-Johnson trade. Adding a seventh-round compensatory pick would essentially bring things back to default for New Orleans. With more free agents still out there it remains to be seen whether the Saints will earn a comp pick or outweigh it by signing more players.

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Chiefs’ weak L’Jarius Snead deal is more proof Saints shouldn’t trade Marshon Lattimore

The Chiefs got back a pittance for trading L’Jarius Snead, their franchise-tagged cornerback. It’s more proof the Saints shouldn’t deal Marshon Lattimore:

How much more proof do the New Orleans Saints need that trading Marshon Lattimore would be a terrible idea? The Kansas City Chiefs agreed to a deal sending franchise-tagged cornerback L’Jarius Snead to the Tennessee Titans on Friday night, and they got back a pittance.

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Chiefs are getting a third-round pick in the 2025 draft while swapping seventh rounders in the 2024 draft coming up in April. That’s a very poor return for a player they thought so highly of as to use the franchise tag in the first place.

But it’s the going rate for high-end cornerbacks these days, and Snead is just the latest corner who is younger and more productive than Lattimore in recent years to be traded. As we’ve discussed before, the takeaway here for the Saints is not that they should trade Lattimore at a loss and accept a bad return in value. The lesson the market is teaching them is to not trade Lattimore.

It can’t be worth it. Even if Lattimore misses half the season with another freak accident injury, as has been the case the last two years, he’s still more valuable to the team than a third-round draft pick a year away. And that’s without getting into the complicated timeline and salary cap implications of moving him now or later this summer.

Teams aren’t valuing defensive backs like they used to. Pro Bowl-quality safeties were let go around the league earlier this month. Many of the best young cornerbacks are being traded for mid-round draft picks. The Saints have gotten by without Lattimore, but doing it again without the reliable depth that Isaac Yiadom and Lonnie Johnson offered last season is a dicey proposition. It’s in their best interests to mend fences with Lattimore and insure he’ll be starting for New Orleans in the fall. There won’t be a strong enough package of draft picks coming from another team to make trading him worthwhile.

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Saints could have traded for Justin Fields, if they had wanted to

The Saints had the draft picks to trade for Justin Fields, and they just hired his quarterbacks coach. It says a lot about their plans that he wasn’t considered:

It says a lot about the New Orleans Saints’ plans at quarterback that they never entered trade talks while the Chicago Bears were trying to find a new home for Justin Fields. The 25-year-old was dealt to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2025 draft; if he’s able to get on the field ahead of Russell Wilson and play well, it can turn into a fourth rounder.

The Saints could have beaten that offer. They own multiple picks in rounds five and six this year which is more lucrative than selections in 2025. They could’ve made a stronger offer than Pittsburgh did, had they chosen to.

And they had an inside scoop on Fields after hiring his quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. Janocko worked closely with Fields the last two years in Chicago and knew everything there was to know about the young quarterback. If the Saints liked what he had to say, they would’ve made a move. But they didn’t.

Which gets to our point: the Saints weren’t interested. As we’ve been saying, they want to support Derek Carr, not threaten his position on top of the depth chart with someone who might be better. They don’t want to have more ugly moments were fans were booing him off the field and cheering on Jameis Winston as happened last year. That’s why they signed a mediocre backup in Nathan Peterman, whose best-case scenario is getting blitzed by Jake Haener in training camp before hanging on with the practice squad, maybe.

Carr was a tough watch for much of the 2023 season. Still, Saints decision-makers like head coach Dennis Allen and general manager Mickey Loomis are confident he can deliver on the expectations that come with his $150 million contract. To his credit, Carr was much more impressive through the last six weeks when ex-offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael began tailoring the offense to his strengths with more play-action passes and pre-snap movement. Allen hired an entirely new offensive coaching staff this offseason, including Janocko, with the goal of putting Carr in a position to succeed.

Does that mean they were right to pass on Fields? No. Teams should keep adding quarterbacks until they know they have the right one, whether that means rolling the dice in free agency, taking a flyer on another team’s castoff, or drafting one themselves. Carr, who turns 33 in a few weeks, has probably hit his ceiling without ever winning a single playoff game. Allen, Loomis, and the Saints as an organization are determined to find out if he can lead the team to success in spite of that. They’re going with Carr, sink or swim, and that’s why they’re not in on an exciting young quarterback like Fields. It’s why fans shouldn’t expect them to draft another passer coming out of college, either.

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Full list of Green Bay Packers picks in 2024 NFL draft

The Green Bay Packers will go into the 2024 NFL draft with 11 picks: Five in the first three rounds, and six on Day 3. Here’s the full list of picks.

The Green Bay Packers will go into the 2024 NFL draft with 11 total picks.

Thanks to a pair of trades, the Packers has five picks in the first three rounds. Thanks to three compensatory picks, the Packers have six picks on Day 3 of the draft.

According to Tankathon, the Packers have the fifth-most draft capital among NFL teams entering the 2024 draft. Green Bay is actually the only team that went to the postseason in 2023 and has draft capital ranking in the top eight of NFL teams in 2024, highlighting the incredible opportunity for Brian Gutekunst to add even more impact players to a young, ascending team.

Here’s the Packers’ full list of picks in the 2024 draft, in order:

First round, No. 25 overall
Second round, No. 41 overall (from Jets)
Second round, No. 58 overall
Third round, No. 88 overall
Third round, No. 91 overall (from Bills)
Fourth round, No. 125 overall
Fifth round, No. 168 overall (compensatory)
Sixth round, No. 201 overall
Sixth round, No. 219 overall (compensatory)
Seventh round, No. 245 overall
Seventh round, No. 255 overall (compensatory)

Notes: The Packers received pick No. 41 as part of the trade that sent Aaron Rodgers to the Jets. They also received pick No. 91 — and traded away pick No. 159 — in the trade that sent Rasul Douglas to the Bills. The Packers received a fifth-round compensatory pick for losing Allen Lazard, sixth-round pick compensatory pick for losing Jarran Reed and a seventh-round compensatory pick for losing Dean Lowry.

The 2024 NFL draft begins with the first round on Thursday, April 25, continues on with the second and third rounds on Friday, April 26 and ends with Rounds 4-7 on Saturday, April 27. Detroit is hosting.

The Saints would be fools to accept this Marshon Lattimore trade offer

The Saints would be fools to accept this Marshon Lattimore trade offer. Trading a great player requires great compensation:

Speculation is picking up on what the New Orleans Saints may do with cornerback Marshon Lattimore this offseason. It makes sense — the pro football world just gathered in Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine and Lattimore’s unique contract restructure signaled to teams that he could be available in a trade. But what could the Saints get back from him?

In an otherwise very thorough, informative, and well-conceived analysis of the situation, Over The Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald missed the mark in suggesting what sort of compensation the Saints could hope for in trading Lattimore. When considering what New Orleans might get back, he suggested:

Probably not too much. Jalen Ramsey who was just one year older was traded for a 3rd round pick and a 3rd round tight end who never saw the field in two years. Lattimore is not considered as good as Ramsey and has a far more extensive injury history. Both cases are going to be seen as salary dumps which lessens the value. So you might be looking at something like a 5th round pick being the base compensation. The benefit for the Saints is because this would be a trade that happens post draft it may be easier to get conditions on availability and team success that could get it close to the Ramsey range. The Saints would probably want to get the trade done before the start of camp which would limit their liability in the event of Lattimore being injured in camp.

That would be a major disappointment for Saints fans, and arguably a fireable offense for general manager Mickey Loomis. Great players require great compensation, and a fifth rounder hardly matches that description. Fitzgerald is wrong to characterize this as a salary dump — the Saints aren’t open to trading Lattimore because he’s making too much money. They’re open to trading him because of a conflict with either head coach Dennis Allen or the team medical staff (or both), and the explicit consideration that Lattimore is one of the few assets the team could hope to trade and get back something worthwhile to help rebuild their roster.

And it’s inaccurate to suggest Lattimore is “not considered as good as Ramsey” because if Lattimore isn’t in that conversation, then who is? Even if Lattimore has missed 17 games to injuries over the last two years, he’s tied for the 17th-most interceptions (7) and 14th-most passes defensed (42) among cornerbacks since the 2020 season. Compare that to Ramsey’s 8 interceptions and 30 pass breakups in the same span, with Ramsey appearing in 11 more games. Obviously there’s more to the position than this but it’s disrespectful to Lattimore to undersell his performance like this.

Back to the Saints. It would be absurd for them to accept a fifth-round pick in exchange for Lattimore’s services. He’s worth so much more to the team than what any fifth-round rookie could hope to achieve. Since Jeff Ireland joined the scouting department back in 2015 the Saints have picked just one fifth rounder who spent his entire four-year contract with New Orleans; defensive tackle Tyeler Davison. Each of their other fifth-round picks has flopped, though it’s early for special teams linebacker D’Marco Jackson and second-year safety Jordan Howden.

Still. Unless the Saints are desperate to move Lattimore, and there’s no indication they are without him being granted permission to seek a trade (to say nothing of New Orleans not actively shopping him at this week’s combine), it’s going to take a good offer to pry him away. It has to. It would be unacceptable for Loomis to sell so low on one of the team’s most talented playerse.

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Saints must address these 4 positions this offseason

In order to be better than 9-8 and make the playoffs, the Saints must improve at these 4 positions:

The New Orleans Saints ended last season with a 9-8 record with an easy schedule. Obviously, the team has a lot of room to improve. The first step was adding Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator. His addition should help New Orleans win with scheme as well as talent instead of relying strictly on the players.

There need to be improvements to the roster as well. There is a lot of uncertainty along the offensive line at a couple of positions. That is the paramount concern as it has the ability to cripple the offense. What are the other biggest positions of need?

List of 49ers 2024 NFL draft picks in each round

A full list of the #49ers’ 11 picks in the 2024 NFL draft, and how they got each one:

After a couple years with no first-round pick, and one year with no first or second-round pick, the 49ers are back at full strength atop the draft with their own selections in each of the first four rounds.

In a crucial draft for San Francisco, they hold 11 picks thanks to a handful of trades and the compensatory pick rules/formulas.

Here’s where each of the team’s 11 picks fall according to the compensatory pick projections from Over the Cap, with a brief bit on how they acquired each selection:

 

2024 NFL draft order: Where do 49ers pick?

The 49ers are back in the 1st round of the NFL draft after a 2-year hiatus. Here’s where they’ll pick:

The 49ers offseason is officially underway and their loss in Super Bowl LVIII officially cemented their place, once again, near the bottom of the first round of this year’s draft.

The good news for San Francisco is that they don’t have to relinquish that pick this year. After skipping the first round in 2022 and 2023 because of picks dealt in their 2021 trade up to the No. 3 pick, the 49ers are back in action with virtually their entire slate of selections in the 2024 draft.

Here’s a look at the 2024 draft order as it sits in the days following the end of the 2023 season:

Trading for Haason Reddick is a risky option for fixing the Saints pass rush

Trading for Eagles Pro Bowler Haason Reddick is a risky option for fixing the New Orleans Saints pass rush, but it could bring big rewards:

It’s no secret that the New Orleans Saints must improve their pass rush. They were one of the worst teams last season getting after the quarterback, and it’s still a major area of concern going into 2024 despite having so many high draft picks invested along the defensive line. The unit has to play better, and adding more players to the mix might be the best path forward.

So here’s an interesting option: Haason Reddick, the Philadelphia Eagles’ sacks leader in each of the last two years. A two-time Pro Bowler, Reddick has taken the quarterback down 27 times over the last two seasons, tacking on 3.5 sacks in the playoffs last year. The 29-year-old has bagged double-digit sacks in each of the last four seasons.

But there are risks involved. Reddick is seeking an extension that the Eagles might not want to pay, which is why NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports the team has given him permission to seek a trade. There’s a year left on his contract but no more guaranteed money. There are pros and cons to the Saints pursuing him.

It would be an expensive move. To start, any team trading for Reddick before June 1 would take on a $15.5 million salary cap hit ($1 million of which comes from a roster bonus due March 15). It’s possible a team could convince the Eagles to pay part of Reddick’s $14.25 million salary, reducing that cap hit, but it would require giving up better draft picks in a trade. The Saints did this in trading for Bradley Roby with the Houston Texans a few years ago and attempted it last season in discussing a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders for Hunter Renfrow.

Let’s say the Eagles reject that proposal, though. So the Saints trade for Reddick and then must figure out their next step. The likeliest move would be a restructure — reducing Reddick’s salary to the veteran minimum and paying the difference as a $14.25 million signing bonus, which would be paid out over five years for cap purposes. Reddick’s 2024 cap hit would fall at about $5.1 million, which is mighty affordable for a talented pass rusher.

The downside? Reddick’s contract expires in 2025, which means he would leave behind roughly $10.4 million in dead money if he leaves in free agency. And the whole reason he’s available is because he’s seeking a trade to a team that will sign him to an extension. It’s tough to see him approving a trade to New Orleans if the Saints are not interested in extending him either.

And let’s get to the other cost of this move — the trade. Beyond the fact that Eagles general manger Howie Roseman has gotten the better of his Saints counterpart Mickey Loomis so often and so badly that Loomis has publicly voiced concern about dealing with him, star pass rushers in their prime aren’t cheap. A good comparison for Reddick at this stage in his career is Khalil Mack, who was traded from the Chicago Bears to the Los Angeles Chargers a few years ago. Mack was a year older than Reddick is now with lesser production in the years leading up to the trade:

  • Khalil Mack 2019-2021: 23.5 sacks, 84 solo tackles (25 tackles for loss), 8 forced fumbles (4 recoveries) with an interception in 39 games (two Pro Bowls).
  • Haason Reddick 2021-2023: 38 sacks, 101 solo tackles (36 tackles for loss), 7 forced fumbles (4 recoveries) in 50 games (two Pro Bowls).

Mack was traded for a current-year second-round pick and a future sixth-round pick. Any deal for Reddick would have to outdo that. Another part of the equation is that Mack still had three years left on his contract when he was traded. Remember, Reddick is looking for a new deal.

While the Saints have a plan to reach salary cap compliance and open up room for new additions, it’s fair to ask whether Reddick makes sense for them. Considering their cap resources, the draft picks they would need to invest in him, and their defensive system, he might not be the best option. Head coach Dennis Allen’s preference for heavyset defensive ends would make the 6-foot-1, 240-pound Reddick an awkward fit. They did find success late last year allowing the 6-3, 225-pound Zack Baun to rush off the edge but only in a limited capacity. There’s a good chance Allen would try to fit a square peg into a round hole and ask Reddick to play in coverage as an off-ball linebacker, which is something he hasn’t enjoyed doing in Philadelphia.

We should expect the Saints to explore all their options in upgrading the pass rush off the edge. Cameron Jordan is past his prime. Young draft picks like Payton Turner and Isaiah Foskey have not produced. Tanoh Kpassagnon is a good veteran to have in the rotation, but Carl Granderson is the only proven commodity in the group. Trading for someone like Reddick might make sense, but the Saints could also consider the free agent market and ultimately wait and see who is available in the draft. The only path that isn’t an option: running it back with things the way they stand now.

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