The New England Patriots have been laid out as a potential destination for Cesar Ruiz, a prime trade candidate for the New Orleans Saints, with the trade deadline looming, and it's a win for all parties involved. Aside from Ruiz being a cause of fan frustration, Jeremiah Wright already being on the roster as a potential replacement should be a part of the Saints decision making.
The moment the Saints trade Ruiz they're committing themselves to evaluating Wright for the rest of the year, and that may not be such a bad idea. It comes down to a simple question. Would you rather know get an evaluation of Wright now or go into 2027 with him as a question mark? With the assumption that Ruiz isn't on your roster next year regardless, that thought process around Wright is important.
Trading Ruiz now allows the team to get an extended look at the rookie, but keeping Ruiz on the roster all season creates a bit of a dicey situation. Wright is a fourth round pick and depending on him to be the starter next year is a bit of a risk at this point. Trading Ruiz would strip away the uncertainty and give more time to make things clear how pressing right guard is this offseason.
Patriots could give the Saints more for Cesar Ruiz than other teams
It's a team that makes a lot of sense and trading Ruiz to New England could yield one of the biggest returns the Saints would see. The Patriots were in the Super Bowl just a year ago, and they should be aggressive in their attempt to return. That aggression could lead to them paying a premium at the deadline.
This trade would get Ruiz to a championship contender, get the Saints draft capital back and get the Patriots a starting guard. They're currently without either of their starting guards, which is why they would be in the market for Ruiz, and ESPN's Seth Walder broke down the case for the Patriots inquiring about Ruiz.
"Saints G Cesar Ruiz. Both of the Patriots' Week 1 starters at guard -- Alijah Vera-Tucker (hamstring) and Mike Onwenu (ankle) -- are on injured reserve. In Ruiz, New England would be adding a starting-caliber guard who is having a particularly good season, with a 78th percentile pass block win rate. He's a better pass protector than run blocker, but the former is more important in New England where protecting Drake Maye is the most important job of the offensive line"
One counterpoint is the Patriots are one of the most run heavy teams in the league. That's partially because of Maye's scrambling, which would fall into pass blocking snaps, but they also call designed runs for Maye.
If you took out Maye's rushes from the total, then they'd fall towards the middle of the league. However, that's an inexact measurement because it would also remove Maye's designed runs, while not accounting for other team's quarterback runs.
Protecting Maye is priority number one, and Ruiz should be able to do that well. Everything else can be sorted out afterwards. Plus, it's pretty hard to make a Super Bowl push with two injured guards.
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