Exploring what the Saints could do at the trade deadline

Dennis Allen came out last week during a radio interview and said the Saints will not be sellers at next week’s trade deadline.

And I believe him. I don’t think they’re sellers before Tuesday’s trade deadline in the sense that they’re actively looking to change current assets into future assets. But I’m not sure I subscribe to the notion that the Saints are completely shut off from the idea of trading players. I think if the right offer came along for the right player, they’d be willing to make a deal.

Everything has a price. Mickey Loomis made that clear last week during an interview on WWL radio. He absolutely left the door open for a possible trade but noted that he hadn’t received any serious enough offers to consider moving a player.

“When you’re in a losing streak, you’re calling those teams to see if they’re sellers, right?” Loomis said. “So, we’ll get a number of calls and we’ll respond accordingly. I’m not really one who thinks that trading away half your roster makes a lot of sense at this point for, generally, what I think are undervalued offers.”

Loomis isn’t wrong about the value on the offers. Most of the time, when a player gets traded, everyone reacts the same way: “The Saints couldn’t give up a fourth for that guy? They could have got more!” But it seems that no one ever gets more or gives up more when a team has decided to sell a player away.

The most obvious trade candidate is the same obvious trade candidate that has existed all along: Marshon Lattimore. The team was willing to trade him during the offseason if the right offer came along, and there’s really no reason to think that anything has changed. I do believe if a team made the right offer, New Orleans would listen and be willing to trade him.

Lattimore is still this team’s best and most talented player. He’s only allowed eight catches for 83 yards this season and is still 28, which isn’t young, but it isn’t geriatric. Darrelle Revis made a Pro Bowl at 30. Richard Sherman made one at 31. His age might be a concern to the Saints, who won’t be ready to win a Super Bowl within the next couple of years, but there’s still a nice window open on him for a team that is on the cusp.

The concern on Lattimore was his health, which should still be a concern for any team interested in acquiring him. The cornerback missed half of the games over the past two seasons and then was hurt again all throughout camp. So far, he’s been relatively healthy this season. He missed a game in Week 2 but found his way back, and looks like he is going to miss a game this week with a hamstring injury.

I don’t generally disagree with Loomis’ view on trading away his assets. Getting rid of anyone who is part of the future doesn’t make sense. Trading Chris Olave or Pete Werner or Bryan Bresee or Rashid Shaheed or Cesar Ruiz or Erik McCoy or any of the other young players who are part of the solution doesn’t make sense at all.

And even getting rid of your older guys who might help you win some games and keep your culture in place doesn’t make sense unless the offer is right. You don’t trade Demario Davis for a fifth-round pick just because you aren’t going to win a Super Bowl in the next couple of years. If you’re tearing things down and telling your players that there’s nothing left to play for, you better be getting assets back that actually help you rebuild things.

There are probably only a couple of guys who would actually make sense to trade. The Saints could probably get Chase Young back on a pretty cheap deal next year, but he's only on a one-year deal for now. The pass rusher only has two sacks so far this season, and if he’s looking for greener pastures, a contender might be willing to bite on his potential. Willie Gay and Payton Turner are upcoming free agents, but the return for them probably wouldn’t be much.

Unless someone is willing to offer you the world for one of the young, core players, Lattimore really feels like the only guy who makes sense to trade at this point. His replacements are in-house, and you might actually get something worthwhile back for him. It’s more likely that the team stands pat and tries to add to what it has this offseason, but that could change if the right offer arrives.