2 big things that could happen after Saints’ trade with Eagles

The New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles swapped picks with the headline being that NOLA gained an extra first-round pick in this year’s draft but surrendered their first-round pick in next year’s draft.

Fans are left scratching their heads at what this move could possibly mean for the team moving forward. It feels like there are two pretty big things that could happen now that New Orleans has two first-round selections for the 2022 NFL Draft.

Scenario 1: Saints load up on offensive needs

With this extra first-round selection, the Saints find themselves with three picks in the top 50 and four picks in the top 100. That means this team could get a lot of immediate playmakers to add to a team that narrowly missed out on the playoffs a season ago.

The biggest needs for NOLA as of now are at left tackle and wide receiver and now the team has a chance to address both positions in the first round alone. By moving up two picks to the 16th pick, there’s an increased chance that guys like Charles Cross and Trevor Penning will still be on the board if the Saints wanted to be sure they locked down their left tackle option.

At wide receiver, this made things a lot more interesting, as they’ll have plenty of chances to try and find a game-changing receiver to pair with Michael Thomas. This would give Winston a better offensive line to protect him and better weapons for him to throw to.

Scenario 2: Saints package picks to move up in first-round

This is another theory that’s been floating out there and it makes sense as to why. Now that the Saints have two first-round picks, the chances of them sending both of those selections to a team with a top 10 selection and moving up increase dramatically.

The confusing part of this to me, however, is that the Saints signed both Jameis Winston and Andy Dalton this offseason so why make such an aggressive move for a quarterback? This year’s quarterback class isn’t great so it feels like this could be an unnecessary risk for the team.

If the Saints find themselves in love with either Malik Willis or Kenny Pickett, however, perhaps they feel this is the right decision. They swap picks with a team higher up in the draft, jump both the Falcons and Panthers and find their franchise quarterback.

This would indeed be a risky move but we saw the Chiefs do it for Patrick Mahomes and that’s turned out okay. It’d be risky but if teams aren’t trying to find their long-term starting quarterback, then they’re not going to win championships.

Some fans are scared that the New Orleans Saints might be moving up for a quarterback after making this move and if they are, they now have the ammo to do so.

These are two big things that could happen now that the Saints are armed with two first-round draft selections.

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What are you hoping happens with the No. 16 and No. 19 picks in the 2022 NFL Draft? Will they be made by the Saints or traded off in another big move?