![]() ![]() No one carpes the diem quite like the Saints, who have traded up 24 times in the past 16 drafts and haven’t traded back since 2007. ![]() Success often finds teams that zig when everyone else is zagging, and it’s clear that while most clubs are looking to hoard future picks and build their rosters for the long term, New Orleans is content to take a road less traveled. But if the Olave gambit goes to plan, they could also end up looking like geniuses. The Ringer’s brand-new All In-dex confirms that thought: New Orleans is leveraged to the gills in 2022, coming in sixth highest on the list thanks to a combination of lavish cash spending over the next two years ($440 million–plus in all, third most among NFL teams) and a relative lack of draft capital over the next three-the latter mostly due to the Olave-centric trades.Īll of this is to say that the Saints are maniacs. believe they’re just a starter or two away from fielding a championship-caliber squad-and that Olave in particular is capable of pushing the team over the top. The team’s draft-weekend maneuvers (which included the selection of offensive tackle Trevor Penning at no. And it’s especially true when that player is not a quarterback. That’s an absurd amount of draft capital for a team to surrender for any one player. ![]() Combining the team’s predraft and draft-day trades, the Saints essentially gave up five picks to select Olave: two 2022 third-rounders, a 2022 fourth-rounder, a 2023 first-rounder, and a 2024 second-rounder. Not yet finished, the Saints then gave up a handful more picks to the Commanders on draft night to move up an additional five spots, selecting Ohio State receiver Chris Olave at no. Instead, the team’s brain trust, headed up by GM Mickey Loomis, looked at a roster that earned an initial win total over/under of 7.5 from Vegas bookmakers and decided to push all their chips in anyway.Īfter re-upping or restructuring most of their key starters from last year and making a targeted free agency push, the Saints doubled down on 2022 and sent a package of future picks to the Eagles in an early-April blockbuster trade, acquiring a second first-round pick in the draft (giving them nos. When longtime football czar Sean Payton stepped down in January, though, the franchise was handed a chance to hit the reset button and take a breath after years and years of making seemingly unsustainable, future-mortgaging moves. When it comes to cap management and the utilization of their draft capital, they employ a win-now-and-worry-about-the-future-later strategy to go all in every year. I wish they would chill out, if only for one second.įor what seems like forever, New Orleans has walked the tight rope between shrewd and reckless. I get tired just thinking about the New Orleans Saints. But which teams have truly pushed all their pieces to the middle of the table and are ready to make a serious run to Super Bowl LVII? Welcome to The Ringer ’s All In Week, where we’ll examine the quarterback moves, team-building philosophies, and gambles that teams have made to compete for a championship and determine what it truly means to be all in. NFL teams have spent the past six months reshaping their rosters and now, finally, the 2022 regular season is nearly upon us. ![]()
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