Saints First-Rounder Surprisingly Called ‘Expendable’

The New Orleans Saints have had shockingly-little turnover this offseason so far.

New Orleans brought Kellen Moore into the picture as the team's head coach after he was the offensive coordinator in 2024 with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles just won the Super Bowl and now Moore will try to get the Saints to that level.

Rather than rebuilding, clearly the Saints are looking at the 2025 season as one to try to make a run at the division. There's still a lot of time left this offseason for additions and subtractions, though. For example, FanSided's Ryan Heckman surprisingly called former first-rounder Trevor Penning "expendable."

"The Saints have a couple of options with Trevor Penning after the Kelvin Banks selection
It'll likely be Banks and Fuaga at tackle, of course, so that leaves Penning as an odd man out," Heckman said. "Does he get an opportunity to slide in and compete at guard similar to how Mekhi Becton did under Kellen Moore in Philadelphia? That's an option. But, for any teams that might not feel great about their tackle positions, Penning could still be a potential trade target if New Orleans were to make him available.

"At this stage, getting a mild draft pick for Penning might be worthwhile rather than relegating him to the bench. For right now, maybe the best route to go would be to keep him around and see how he handles the adversity. But, you can't help but wonder whether or not he should be available right now, especially if there are teams out there who might be panicking that they didn't come away with a tackle early on in the draft."

Penning is just 25 years old and was taken with the No. 19 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He started all 17 games last year for a team that dealt with plenty of injuries. The Saints' offensive line wasn't great last year. It would make more sense to keep as many starting-caliber options as possible.

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