Whew. The New Orleans Saints lost four of their free agents during Monday’s start to the NFL legal tampering period, in which opposing teams could reach out and offer contracts to players around the league.
David Onyemata, Shy Tuttle, Kaden Elliss, and Marcus Davenport each reached agreements with new teams within hours of the negotiating window’s opening. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Saints are for once poised to cash in with some valuable compensatory picks in the 2024 draft (which we’re tracking here).
The way things stand right now, the Saints would have a total of ten picks to work with in 2024:
- Round 1
- Round 2 (via Denver Broncos)
- Round 4
- Round 4 (compensatory for Marcus Davenport)
- Round 4 (compensatory for David Onyemata)
- Round 5
- Round 6
- Round 6 (via Philadelphia Eagles)
- Round 6 (compensatory for Kaden Elliss)
- Round 6 (compensatory for Shy Tuttle)
However, the Saints will be without their own selections in rounds two (traded to the Eagles in last year’s first-round move), three (traded to the Broncos along with Sean Payton), and seven (traded to the Houston Texans for Mark Ingram II), so these comp picks would only be shoring up some vacancies.
And New Orleans very likely isn’t going to end up with the maximum four comp picks allowed for player departures. Once they begin signing new free agents of their own, those additions will count against the losses and thin out the group based on contract value. It’s more realistic to expect two or three comp picks when it’s all said and done, but you never know. We’ll have to wait quite a while to see how this all plays out.
