The 2025 NFL season has gone woefully for the New Orleans Saints from a wins and losses perspective. They have lost all but one of their first eight games, and maybe their best course of action would be to offload some of their proven players via trade and tank for a shot at the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
With the situation the Saints are in with the Nov. 4 trade deadline just days away, a whole lot of eyes are supposedly on New Orleans.
“Many people around the league are watching the 1-7 Saints closely near the trade deadline,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler wrote. “What transpires over the next week will say something about where the Saints feel they stand in the roster-building process — which, to most, should be rebuilding. But New Orleans and GM Mickey Loomis have tried staving that reality off for a while. Just two months ago, New Orleans traded fourth- and seventh-round picks to Denver for wide receiver Devaughn Vele.”
One anonymous executive in the AFC believes it’s high time the Saints add more young talent to the fold.
“It’s time to just rip the Band-Aid off and do it,” the exec said. “They’ve held it off for so long, but they need to replenish with young players.”
Fowler also indicated that the Saints “will at least listen to offers on certain players” and noted that guard Cesar Ruiz could be obtainable “at the right price.”
“New Orleans has tradeable assets, from wide receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed to corner Alontae Taylor and linebacker Pete Werner,” Fowler wrote. “The sense is the Saints will at least listen to offers on certain players. Teams I’ve spoken to are under the impression that guard Cesar Ruiz might be available at the right price. Change feels inevitable for the Saints this offseason regardless, with defensive staples such as Demario Davis and Cameron Jordan both turning 37 next year and Alvin Kamara turning 31.”
Ruiz has been a staple of the Saints’ offensive line for years now. He’s logged 82 appearances and 76 starts for New Orleans since coming into the league in the 2020 season, and the Saints are the only NFL team he’s played for thus far.
If there’s one player Fowler mentioned that the Saints shouldn’t move, it may be Olave. The first-round pick back in the 2022 NFL Draft is still quite young at 25, and he’s a valuable weapon on top of that. He’s on track to rack up quadruple digits in receiving yards on the season, and that’s a feat he’s already accomplished twice in his young career.
Conversely, New Orleans should perhaps explore the possibility of trading someone like Kamara or tight end Juwan Johnson before the deadline. They’re maybe both a little too long in the tooth to fit the Saints’ timeline, and they could feasibly fetch some useful assets on the open market via trade.
Johnson already has 368 receiving yards to his name across eight games and seven starts with New Orleans this season, and Kamara has run for 363 yards and 17 first downs despite having a bit of a down season. Time will tell if both players will still be members of the Saints after the trade deadline comes and goes.
