What will the New Orleans Saints do this offseason?
This is a question that really has no clear answer yet. The only thing that is certain is that the Saints are in a tough position cap-wise and need to clear some salary off the books. Over The Cap currently has the Saints with over -$47 million in cap space.
Will the Saints attempt to go through a full rebuild? Will New Orleans restructure deals and push its financial complications into the future? Will the Saints try to do some combination of both? We should start to find out more about their strategy over the next few weeks as free agency kicks off in March.
There surely will be some big changes across the league this offseason and if the Saints decide to blow the roster up, one guy who will be worth watching is receiver Chris Olave. He landed a four-year rookie deal worth over $19 million and has one more year on it before a club option in 2026. If the Saints want to rebuild, they could get some cash off the books and a premium draft return for someone like Olave.
A move doesn’t seem likely, but New England Patriots insider Chad Graff of The Athletic floated him as a hypothetical fit for the Patriots in a recent mailbag if they miss out on Tee Higgins.
“So, my early guess (with more reporting hopefully to come soon) is that the Pats will aggressively pursue a trade,” Graff dais. “That could be as ambitious as calling New Orleans about Chris Olave or Seattle about DK Metcalf. Or it might have to be settling for a deal with the Los Angles Rams for Cooper Kupp.”
The Patriots have plenty of cap space and could afford a deal, but would the Saints actually consider a move?