The real reason the Saints are still unlikely to be sellers at the trade deadline

The New Orleans Saints are 2-7, and on Monday, they fired their head coach. With the NFL trade deadline set for Tuesday, November 5, at 4 p.m. ET, everything about New Orleans looks like a team that should be selling. The Saints are bad, they just hit the reset button by firing their coach, and they have talented veterans with expensive contracts.

Sending a couple of guys to contending teams on Tuesday makes all the sense in the world. There’s a chance that can happen in New Orleans, but it’s still unlikely, even though the team fired Dennis Allen on Monday.

The reason it’s unlikely isn’t that the Saints aren’t ready to commit to a rebuild; the reason is actually that the franchise is a loyal team, and probably won’t be willing to ship away key veterans that want to be in New Orleans.

Loyalty could keep the Saints from making trade-deadline moves

Looking at New Orleans’ roster, the players that make the most sense for possible trades are the established veterans that have been franchise pillars over the last decade or so. Guys like Alvin Kamara, Marshon Lattimore, Tyrann Mathieu, Demario Davis, Cam Jordan, and Taysom Hill make for the perfect trade candidates.

However, many of those players have expressed how much they want to finish their career in New Orleans, and have signed contracts that set them up to do that. It’d be very unlike the Saints to go against these players’ wishes, even if trading them is what’s best for the team.

Chances are, New Orleans will do right by them, and allow them to stick it out, unless they make it clear they wouldn’t mind being traded.

Of this core group, the only player who has really seemed indifferent to the idea of being traded is Marshon Lattimore. During the offseason, when his name was constantly floated in trade discussions, he pretty much said it is what it is.

So if any move is going to be made, it’d be a Lattimore trade. Other than that, the Saints will likely sit still and wait until the offseason to officially start turning the page to a new era.

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