The New Orleans Saints need to rebuild and here's how they should do it
By Jonny Camer
Step 2: Make trades for draft picks this offseason
This next part will be very controversial, but it needs to be done.
The first player is Alvin Kamara. Don't get me wrong, Kamara is still an elite player, but this team needs draft picks, and the HB position is the most replaceable position in all of football. He's also already 27 years old and will be 28 by the start of next season. The modern-day HB is just not built to last very long, and with him turning 28, this writer sees regression in his near future.
The Carolina Panthers got a sizeable package of multiple draft picks, including second, third, and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-round selection in 2024. If New Orleans can get a package similar to that of the Panthers, they would be in a much better spot than keeping Kamara.
The team could draft HB to replace Kamara and other positions of need. Kamara himself was a third-round pick, and plenty of other teams have gotten success out of HBs in rounds 2-7, like Dameon Pierce, Nick Chubb, Breece Hall, Joe Mixon, and Javontae Williams.
The next player to trade is Michael Thomas. As great as he was for the Saints, it's time to move on. Thomas will be turning 30 in March and hasn't been able to stay on the field for New Orleans. They should pull the trigger if a team is willing to take on Thomas for a second or third-round selection.
The next two to go are Tyrann Mathieu and Demario Davis. Yes, Davis is having a career year and playing at an elite level. However, he's about to turn 34 years old, and his final years in the NFL shouldn't be squandered on a rebuild. A contending team could pay a pretty penny for these two in the offseason.
It may not be ideal to trade these players, but this team needs to build around its younger pieces like Pete Werner, Chris Olave, and Alontae Taylor. With the wealth of draft picks obtained by trading its older players, the Saints could have a plethora of young talent in the coming years. On top of trading the older players, they would get some of the larger contracts off the books.