Which roster move was the worst decision of the New Orleans Saints offseason? Between their releases, signings, draft picks, and many, many contract restructures (tying underperforming players like Andrus Peat closer to their future), there are plenty to choose from.
The Athletic’s Katherine Terrell chose New Orleans’ worst offseason move in a survey of all 32 teams, though she nearly gave them a mulligan for somewhat extenuating circumstances. She wrote:
“You could say some things were partially out of the Saints’ control after their cap situation got to the point that starting corner Janoris Jenkins had to be released. The Saints loved Jaycee Horn but weren’t going to mortgage their entire future to get him in the draft, and while they could’ve gotten one of the second-tier corners at the end of the first round, they went with Payton Turner. Trading back up in the second to get someone like Tyson Campbell didn’t work, so that position wasn’t addressed until Paulson Adebo in the third round. It feels like the Saints have a gaping hole at CB with few options available and no cap space until someone is extended.”
There’s a very different scenario in a parallel, divergent timeline (or variant, for “Loki” fans) where the salary cap didn’t take an unprecedented tumble and the Saints were able to retain Janoris Jenkins, giving Adebo a year to prepare to replace him or Marshon Lattimore in 2022. But that’s not where we are, and it’s an unenviable position for New Orleans.
Maybe things work out with Adebo competing to start opposite Lattimore, though as Terrell pointed out you’d imagine the Saints still want to add another veteran to the mix with Patrick Robinson and P.J. Williams. Big names like Richard Sherman and Steven Nelson are still available, as are free agents like Dre Kirkpatrick (who visited with the Saints in June).
If New Orleans can negotiate a contract extension with franchise-tagged safety Marcus Williams ahead of the NFL deadline later this week, they should be able to sign their pick of the bunch. They already have more than $11.6 million in salary cap space after inking right tackle Ryan Ramczyk to a long-term deal.
