There weren't many whispers of potential destinations for Dexter Lawrence, but the New Orleans Saints should have been one of the teams calling the New York Giants about a deal. Despite the Saints not landing Lawrence, the trade still has a slight ripple effect on the Saints NFL Draft plans.
The NFL Draft is always a crapshoot but it's even more applicable this year. We don't really have any clue of what will happen ahead of the Saints. Will a receiver go in the first seven picks? What about one of the offensive tackles? These are premier positions that could be picked before the Saints are on the clock, but they're far from guarantees.
How the board is too unpredictable to predict trading back just yet. The Saints don't do much trading back, or any in the first round, anyway but the chances of them doing so just took an even bigger hit due to the Lawrence trade.
Saints lost a prime trade back partner once Bengals sent away their first round pick
The Bengals would have been a perfect candidate for the Saints to trade back with, and the Saints were a perfect candidate for the Bengals to trade up with. A move from 8 to 10 wouldn't have costed the Bengals a lot, and it would have kept the Saints in a pretty good position in the draft.
It'd be nice to get a haul from a team, but getting a haul means trading back far as well. Trading to 10 would have netted the Saints an early fourth round pick this year and possibly a 2027 fourth or fifth round pick.
It's not just throwing something at the wall and hoping it sticks. It would make sense for the Bengals to have wanted to get ahead of the Chiefs for a cornerback or an edge rusher. Those are both positions the Chiefs could have wanted, and the Bengals could have ensured they got their guy for a small fee. The Saints receive a near top-100 pick in return.
That's all off the board with the Giants now owning the 10th overall pick. The idea of the Giants trading up with the Saints feels like a long shot. There was already whispers of them wanting to trade down from the fifth overall pick. Even if that was just chatter, it's hard to see the Giants make a move with the Saints to get deeper into the top-10.
Add us as a preferred source on Google