Tag: Marshon Lattimore

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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At Alabama pro day, Saints get close look at first-round-quality DBs

The Saints sent a defensive backs coach to Alabama’s pro day, who was tasked with running drills for first-round cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry:

We probably shouldn’t ready too deeply into this, but it’s tough to ignore against the backdrop of Marshon Lattimore trade speculation. Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy noted that the New Orleans Saints were one of four teams whose coaches were running drills with defensive backs at Alabama’s pro day this week — a group that included first-round cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry.

Now that’s interesting. Whether it was senior assistant Peter Giunta (who often handles this job on the pro day circuit each year), defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson or someone else on staff, the Saints have always put a premium on their secondary with Dennis Allen on staff. If their position coaches like what they’ve seen, it’s going to weigh into the front office’s decisions.

It’s a fascinating situation, but not particularly pleasant. If a split with Lattimore is in the cards, it could make sense to look to the draft for his replacement. Paulson Adebo is entering a contract year, so it’s very possible the Saints would need to be replacing both starting corners within 12 months, and Alontae Taylor can’t be everywhere at once.

Still, drafting a first-round defensive back (even one as talented as Arnold or McKinstry) would be a heck of a luxury pick for New Orleans. The Saints are actively navigating free agency with some glaring problems left to address like competition for Trevor Penning at left tackle and an upgrade over James Hurst at left guard. They should be considering another pass rusher or pass catcher (either one of the top wideouts or Georgia tight end Brock Bowers) at No. 14 overall, too. There’s certainly a scenario where the Saints could draft a cornerback early on, but there are too many other fires to put out first.

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Recent cornerback moves are proof Saints should not trade Marshon Lattimore

Poor returns on recent cornerback trades are proof the Saints shouldn’t deal Marshon Lattimore. It’s in their best interest to mend what’s broken:

NFL teams will tell you how they value a player by the contracts they hand out and what they’re willing to send in trades with one another. And while cornerback remains a premium position, players being swapped for draft picks are not bringing back very strong returns. Not even great ones like Jalen Ramsey. It means the New Orleans Saints shouldn’t expect a great haul of draft picks for trading Marshon Lattimore, either.

As noted by Nola.com’s Jeff Duncan, high-end corners like Ramsey, Carlton Davis, and Rasul Douglas have all been traded in the last 12 months. Here’s what those trades brought back:

  • Jalen Ramsey: Traded for a third-round pick and backup tight end
  • Carlton Davis: Traded with two sixth rounders for a third-round pick
  • Rasul Douglas: Traded with a fifth rounder for a third-round pick

That’s a sorry return for three players who are all healthier and/or more productive than Lattimore over the last two years. Lattimore has 12 passes broken up across 17 games with just a pair of interceptions, compared to Douglas (14 PBU’s and 5 interceptions in 16 games), Davis (21 PBU’s and 3 interceptions in 25 games), and Ramsey (23 PBU’s and 7 interceptions in 27 games).

Saints fans aren’t going to want to hear that, but it isn’t a diss at Lattimore. He’s played football at an incredibly high level even if his best work isn’t reflected on the stats sheet. He’s shut down DK Metcalf, DeAndre Hopkins and Mike Evans in recent games. But when you look at the impact plays where he’s breaking up passes or taking the ball away, there are players with better numbers being traded for inconsequential picks around the league.

And that’s what the Saints would be hearing if they started shopping Lattimore around. A third rounder and a late-round pick is the rumored price for Kansas City Chiefs franchise-tagged corner L’Jarius Sneed, too, and he’s someone else with more pass deflections (25), interceptions (5), and games played (33) than Lattimore the last two years. Saints fans are reasonably wanting a first-round pick and more for Lattimore, but teams aren’t going to offer that.

Which is why this situation shouldn’t get to that point anyway. If this is the best trade offer the Saints could expect then it’s worth more to them to mend whatever’s broken. They’ve let it known that their frustrations with Lattimore’s lengthy recovery from injuries has boiled over. At the same time, it hasn’t reached a point where Lattimore has requested a trade or been granted permission to seek one. The Saints haven’t made calls to see who might be interested in cutting a deal. They’re open to it, which is why they restructured his contract to facilitate a trade.

But there’s reason to think everyone can be adults here, including Dennis Allen and Mickey Loomis. To his credit, Allen was complimentary of Lattimore when asked about him at the NFL Scouting Combine. Loomis was more guarded when Lattimore’s unique restructure came up in his end-of-year press conference. Those two men are more responsible for the team’s success than anyone else in the building. They need to get on the same page with their four-time Pro Bowler.

This relationship isn’t too far gone. Lattimore showed up on the sideline to support his teammates in the regular season finale, unlike other injured players like Michael Thomas, who had already accepted he wouldn’t be back for 2024. He hasn’t been critical of anyone on social media. He’s taken the high road. It’s clear they won’t get a trade package back that would justify trading Lattimore. It’s time they put this speculation to rest and insure Lattimore will be making plays for New Orleans, not some other team, in 2024 and beyond.

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Saints lose cornerback Isaac Yiadom to the 49ers

This is a big hit. The Saints are losing free agent cornerback Isaac Yiadom to the 49ers after his impressive year coming in off the bench:

The New Orleans Saints are losing key depth in free agency, particularly on defense. Cornerback Isaac Yiadom has agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers, per his agent AJ Vaynerchuk, after also being heavily pursued by the Washington Commanders.

Yiadom played a lot of valuable snaps for the Saints last year in relief of starting corners Marshon Lattimore and Paulson Adebo when they missed time with injuries; he was credited with 14 pass breakups, which were hard for other teams around the league to ignore. Good on him for cashing in.

But this is a problem for New Orleans. If the team had planned on trading Lattimore this offseason then Yiadom would have been next in line for a heavier workload. Even if Lattimore is in the plans (and he should be), Yiadom was a competent backup who they could lean on if needed. They’ll need to find a good replacement.

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Lions may be out of pursuit for Marshon Lattimore

The Detroit Lions may be out on Marshon Lattimore. They’ve agreed to trade for another No. 1 corner from one of the Saints’ division rivals:

On the first day of the legal tampering window, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers agreed to a trade with the Detroit Lions sending cornerback Carlton Davis and a couple of late-round draft picks to Detroit in exchange for a third-round pick. The addition of Davis as Detroit’s new number-one cornerback might take them out of the running for New Orleans Saints corner Marshon Lattimore, who has been the subject of trade chatter this offseason.

It was noted prior to free agency that Detroit would be aggressively pursuing the cornerback market this offseason. With the ties that Lions’ head coach Dan Campbell and his fellow defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn have with the Saints, it seemed as though Detroit would be a very likely landing spot for Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore if the team does decide to move on from him.

With the Lions acquiring Davis, this just about concludes the possibility of Lattimore being shipped out to Detroit. However, what makes one wonder is the fact that the Lions didn’t have a second-round pick for flexibility to help facilitate a trade for Lattimore. Giving up a first rounder may have been too rich knowing that they wouldn’t have been picking until the late in the third round this year, but who knows.

The benefit for Saints fans is that one of the top corners in their division is out of the door and they will no longer have to worry about competing against him. And if this development helps keep Lattimore in New Orleans, well: that would be a welcome bonus.

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4 questions that will shape the Saints’ offseason

Free agency is a little over a week away. The Saints must answer these four questions to determine their offseason approach:

Free agency begins in a little over a week, followed by the draft a month later. As the days count down to the start of the new league year, the New Orleans Saints’ coaches are meeting with scouts and front office personnel to decide which areas they prefer to address in free agency versus the draft. Roster management is an ongoing endeavor.

Some questions will keep coming up. There are clear voids to fill on the team, but the Saints will also need to choose whether to keep some players or let them walk away. These four decisions will shape New Orleans’ overall approach to the offseason:

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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There’s a big misconception going around about Marshon Lattimore’s contract

There’s a big misconception going around about Marshon Lattimore’s contract. Any team that trades for him must pay him more than just his salary:

It’s important to remember that the NFL Scouting Combine isn’t just about the college prospects working out ahead of the 2024 draft; it’s also a mixer for personnel around the league to have dinner and drinks with players’ agents ahead of free agency, and for reporters to sit down with their contacts to gossip and source information.

Which is how we got this interesting nugget from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, who emptied his notebook after a week in Indianapolis steakhouses, pubs, and other informal meeting-places.

And, based off what he’s learned, there’s a fierce market developing for talented cornerbacks. Fowler lists the Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins among the teams looking to move most aggressively in upgrading their depth charts. And the New Orleans Saints could be in their crosshairs.

“Several teams believe Saints corner Marshon Lattimore — whose base salary is a paltry $1.2 million due to a restructure — is also available via a trade,” Fowler wrote. But that’s misleading.

While it’s true that Lattimore’s base salary is set at the league minimum of $1.21 million, that isn’t the only cost an acquiring team would have to pay. He’s also due to receive a $13.79 million roster bonus which will trigger one week before the start of the regular season, giving everyone involved a deadline to work out a deal. He’s going to receive $15 million in compensation from whichever team he’s playing for in the fall.

So while that lower base salary could make him more appealing to other teams in casual trade talks in March, teams are going to look at the situation with more scrutiny when they get down to brass tacks in June (when it’ll be easier for the Saints to trade Lattimore, for accounting purposes). Trading Lattimore before June 1 would cost the Saints a staggering $31.2 million in dead money. Waiting until after that date lessens the blow with charges of $10.6 million and $20.6 million in dead money for 2024 and 2025, respectively.

It’s a complicated contract situation, to be sure. And the easiest path out of it is getting everyone in New Orleans back on the same page so Lattimore can continue making plays for the Saints for years to come. But there are going to be teams willing to acquire him even if they have to wait it out through free agency and the 2024 NFL draft. We’ll just have to wait and see whether their patience wears off or if cooler heads prevail in New Orleans.

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Alontae Taylor says he won’t be replacing Marcus Maye at safety

New Orleans Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor moved to the slot in 2023, but says he won’t be replacing Marcus Maye at safety in 2024:

The New Orleans Saints secondary will look different this season with the team intending on releasing starting free safety Marcus Maye when free agency begins in a few weeks. Could another position switch be on the way for cornerback Alontae Taylor, who moved to the slot for the first time in 2023?

Don’t bet on it. Taylor shot down the idea of learning another new position in 2024 in response to fans on social media, who were discussing the notion of playing him at free safety in the wake of Maye’s departure. Whether he primarily covers the slot or moves back outside, he wants to be listed at cornerback.

While the Saints do have an intriguing internal candidate to replace Maye in second-year pro Jordan Howden, they’re going to need more players in the group with Johnathan Abram, Lonnie Johnson, and Ugo Amadi all headed for free agency. And we can’t ignore that Abram finished the season ahead of Howden on the depth chart. He may not be as ready for a full-time starting role as we think.

But as for Taylor: hopefully this experiment in the slot was just a one-year plan. No player was targeted more often or gave up more catches and yards than he did when guarding the slot last season, and he allowed the second-most touchdown passes in the league in that role. He’s a dynamic player on the outside, where he’s played since high school, but he was miscast in the interior over the slot. One benefit to the Saints possibly trading Marshon Lattimore this summer is that it would open a path to keep Taylor in the starting lineup where he’s played his best football.

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Dennis Allen shares Marshon Lattimore update amid trade speculation

New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen shared an update on Marshon Lattimore amid trade speculation:

Will Marshon Lattimore be playing for the New Orleans Saints in 2024? The Saints reworked their contract with the cornerback so that they could trade him, if they choose, back in the final weeks of the 2023 season.

Don’t get it twisted: trading Lattimore would still be expensive. Prohibitively so before June 1 (costing an extra $16 million against the salary cap). If Lattimore is going to be dealt it will be after the 2024 draft, and after June 1. The deadline: one week before the first game of the 2024 season in September.

Saints head coach Dennis Allen was asked about Lattimore’s future with the team this week at the NFL Scouting Combine. He wants to keep things focused on Lattimore’s health after injuries caused him to miss 17 games over the last two years.

“Look, Lattimore is on our football team,” Allen said when asked about Lattimore’s status. “He’s a good football player. He’s been a good football player for us. Obviously, there’s a lot of things that happen throughout the offseason, but Latt’s a big part of our team right now.”

Lattimore suffered a high ankle sprain when a teammate rolled up on him late in a midseason game with the Minnesota Vikings while he was trying to assist with a tackle; his cleat caught in the turf and twisted his leg awkwardly. The year before he suffered a lacerated kidney and other internal organ injuries after colliding with a teammate to defend a big pass over the top of the defense. Both times he was injured on, essentially, freak accidents while trying to help the team win the day.

A lot of discourse in Saints fan groups on social media has centered on perceived culture problems in New Orleans. When asked about that topic and Lattimore’s role in the locker room, Allen said: “I think it’s about guys we think can help us win football games. Guys who can continue to develop the right kind of culture here, and guys that are willing to do the things that are necessary to succeed. Marshon’s a part of our football team, he has been a big part of our football team. Unfortunately the last couple of years health has been a big factor.”

Hopefully those health issues are behind him. There aren’t many cornerbacks who can run like Lattimore and make plays on the football when he’s in good health. The team is better with him on the field and it’s in everyone’s interests to cross whatever divides have opened up. But the speculation about trading him isn’t going to go away until that September deadline passes us by.

“I think the biggest thing is, let’s get Marshon healthy and let’s see where we’re at as a football team, we’ll get the right guys out there that give us a chance to win,” Allen finished.

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