NFC Draft Rumors: Saints, Bain, Cowboys

On the eve of the 2026 NFL Draft, multiple reports came out asserting that the Saints were a team to monitor for a potential draft day trade up. Sitting already at No. 8 overall, rumors seemed to indicate that New Orleans could be looking to up as far as the third pick in the draft, but general manager Mickey Loomis set things straight to the media (video via NewOrleans.Football) the next day.

Fully aware of the reports that had been made, Loomis told reporters, “Yeah, I never made one call to move up from pick 8.” After noting some surprise in the room, he continued, “I know it was reported by a couple of people, but that was completely untrue.”

The surprise was in part due to the existing reports of such interest, but it also stemmed from the Loomis’ history of memorable moves up draft boards in years past. Dating back to his first draft with the Saints in 2003, Loomis has negotiated moves up for players like Johnathan Sullivan, Jammal Brown (2005), Sedrick Ellis (2008), Mark Ingram (2011), Brandin Cooks (2014), Stephone Anthony (2015), Marcus Davenport (2018), and Chris Olave (2022). Loomis did admit that the team was looking to make moves up on Day 2 of this year’s draft, but concerning the first round, he told reporters that the cost to move up would’ve been too high while knowing a player they really liked would fall to them at No. 8.

Here are a few other draft rumors coming out of the NFC:

• The Buccaneers were considered big winners in Day 1 of the draft after walking away with Miami defensive end Rueben Bain Jr. 15 picks into the first round. They had no clue that Bain would end up slipping just that far, but somehow, according to Greg Auman of FOX Sports, they were able to come away with a player that general manager Jason Licht told reporters was a top five player on their board.
• The Cowboys ended up making a trade up one spot — from pick 12 to 11 — in order to ensure nobody would trade in front of them for Ohio State safety Caleb Downs. According to Jon Machota of The Athletic, they also attempted to make a move up to No. 9 overall in a deal that would’ve affected their second first-round pick, as well. Per Machota, Dallas offered Cleveland pick Nos. 12 and 20 for Cleveland’s pick Nos. 9 and 24 as well as a fifth-round pick. The Browns were not interested. It’s unclear if Downs still would have been the target had the deal gone through.