Saints All-Pro Trade Floated As Move 'Toward The Future'

The New Orleans Saints have added talent this offseason rather than rebuilding and looking toward the future.

With organized team activities (OTAs) in full swing and mandatory minicamp one week away, the Saints have started to get a good look at this roster. New Orleans has a new head coach in Kellen Moore and a completely new staff with him. The Saints have been working to implement a completely new system.

New Orleans has signalled that it wants to try to make a run in the division in 2025. If the Saints wanted to rebuild, they wouldn't have pushed the cap questions into the future earlier in the offseason. New Orleans retained much of the roster but that hasn't stopped speculation about subtractions that could make sense.

Bleacher Report's Gary Davenport made a list of one trade candidate for each team and mentioned All-Pro safety Tyrann Mathieu.

"S Tyrann Mathieu," Davenport said. "For years, players like edge-rusher Cameron Jordan, linebacker Demario Davis and safety Tyrann Mathieu have been mainstays on the New Orleans Saints defense. But all of those players are well past the age of 30, and the hard truth is that by the time this mess of a team is competitive again, they will all be retired. Whether general manager Mickey Loomis wants to admit it, the days of the Saints restructuring 182 contracts in an effort to win 10 games and a bad division (which was never a great idea anyway) are over.

"As a matter of fact, you can probably count the number of Saints players who shouldn’t be available in a trade on both hands—and maybe have fingers left over. It’s not difficult to imagine Mathieu generating some interest from playoff contenders. At 33, Mathieu isn’t the force he once was. But he had a highly respectable passer rating against last year of 76.4, Mathieu has logged at least three interceptions in each of the past six seasons, and he can play both safety positions and in the slot."

There was speculation about Mathieu earlier in the season but he took to social media himself to say he wasn't going anywhere. New Orleans restructured his contract to keep him in town. The Saints can't be ruled out for anything but it doesn't seem likely right now.

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