In the first couple of games of the season, New Orleans Saints defensive end Carl Granderson was on the up and up, playing like a man on fire. Unfortunately since then, he's managed to disappear off of the face of the earth.
From week one to five, Granderson was on pace for a career year, gathering 26 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and two passes defended. However, he seemed to lose all of his momentum in week six and has since only gathered seven tackles, and seven tackles only. Not one sack, or anything else on the stat sheet.
That couldn't have come at a worse time for the Saints. With the way that Granderson was playing in the first half of the season, the team could've traded him for a high draft pick, maybe even one on day two. However, now the team will be lucky to receive anything better than a fifth-round pick for him.
By Tuesday afternoon, the New Orleans Saints need more 2026 draft picks
Currently, New Orleans is set to have the first overall selection in the upcoming draft but only five picks in total. That's something that needs to change, because a team with as many holes as the Saints will need a lot more draft picks than that if they hope to get better any time soon. The Saints themselves have got to know it, too, because of all the rumors recently. The phrase is "when there's smoke, there's fire," after all.
As I said before, a trade involving Carl Granderson is something that could've really helped the team... a few weeks ago. However, that doesn't mean that a late-round draft pick can't be beneficial, but it's hard to rebuild a franchise with them.
All this means is that the Saints will have to make multiple trades, and some of those trades are likely to be painful because the team's other options are trading away players like Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. The two wide receivers are arguably the two best players on the Saints, and that's exactly why they're at risk of being traded. They're some of the few players who could net the black and gold a day two pick, which is always something that comes with a high price.
The official trade deadline is set for Nov. 4 at 3:00 p.m. CT. Many moves could, or could not, be made before the deadline, and from the sounds of it, the Saints are likely to make some.