Even with their 36-27 victory, where Tom Brady threw a backbreaking pick six, the Saints may have seen a postseason run go up in smoke.
The tackle was a personal foul against Devin White, which was his third of the game, but New Orleans could not capitalize, punting four plays later. The other two penalties resulted in the Saints putting a pair of field goals on the board. That would have meant Tampa would have been within a field goal, likely leading to more of a ground attack.
Going into Tuesday’s trading deadline, the Saints were heavily rumored to be targeting a receiver. The hope was to pair this receiver with All Pro Michael Thomas, once the latter was slated to return in a few weeks from ankle surgery in June. Thomas suffered a setback in rehabbing the ankle and was ruled out for the season on Wednesday.
When Drew Brees went down injured last season, the Saints turned to Taysom Hill, still winning the division at 12-4. Brees retired in the offseason and General Manager Mickey Loomis decided to bring Winston in to compete for the starting job. Winston had surely not set the world on fire, only putting up a quarterback rating of 68.3 before his injury, but had only thrown three interceptions.
Despite the Saints needing to look to the draft for their next franchise quarterback, the talent that would have surrounded whomever was under center is the same predicament as what is happening in Cleveland. Right now Baker Mayfield is playing through a torn labrum and fractured shoulder, despite having the best group of skill position talent in the NFL.
The Browns are 4-4 and going nowhere.
Cleveland receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has been anything but productive since coming over from the New York Giants back in March of 2019. Everyone around the NFL assumed Beckham would maintain his elite status, giving Mayfield the ultimate weapon to get the Browns their first championship since 1964.
In reality, Beckham has been nothing more than a $15 million decoy in Cleveland’s offense. Beckham tore his ACL midway through last season, but managed to rehab completely in under eight months. The Browns ended up playing better without OBJ in their lineup, largely by taking away Mayfield’s option of having to force the ball in his direction.
New Orleans has all of their draft picks in the first three rounds over the next three years that could have been used as bait in a trade. The idea that Browns’ fans want Beckham moved and the Saints having the assets to do it would have been a perfect match. However, the Browns publicly announced that they would not be trading the receiver, even after social media posts from Beckham’s father and LeBron James. Several reports surfaced that both sides were working on a deal, but that ultimately could not be finalized by the 4:00 PM EST deadline on Tuesday.
Cleveland and New Orleans will still both be playoff contenders by the end of the regular season, so the draft picks the Saints would have required to give up would be mid-to-late of whatever round being exchanged. I would imagine the Browns requested New Orleans to pick up at least half of Beckham’s bloated salary, which might have been the tipping point. The Saints only have about $980,000 worth of available space.
Beckham would have been an ideal fit indoors, playing back home in Louisiana and on turf, where his speed would have been his biggest asset.
I firmly believe a deal is still going to get done before long. There is too much upside on both sides for this not to be.
-JC24