The New Orleans Saints, still needing help along the offensive line as training camp continues, get creative in a new trade idea.
Creative, meaning taking part in a three-team deal with two other NFC teams.
The idea, penned by ESPN's Seth Walder, sees the Saints sending a 2025 fifth-round pick to the New York Giants, who send edge rusher Azeez Ojulari to the Chicago Bears. In the process, the Saints receive offensive tackle Larry Borom from the Bears.
Walder summed up why the Saints would benefit from Borom’s arrival:
But Borom, who is behind Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright in Chicago, could help. He has a career 89% pass block win rate at tackle, roughly average for the position (though he was worse in the category last season at 86%).
It’s a hypothetical move that makes some sense for a Saints team that couldn’t reasonably fix all of its problems at offensive tackle this offseason. Taliese Fuaga, the 14th pick this year, will man left tackle. But Ryan Ramczyk’s injury woes leave a hole on the right edge that Trevor Penning won’t necessarily fill well.
If nothing else, coughing up a mid-round draft asset to get Borom provides more competition at the spot. He’s still just 25 years old, so the hope would be that the former fifth-round pick could spark a position battle that puts the best possible starting five in front of Derek Carr.
This type of deal isn’t all that outlandish given the type of low-cost moves teams have made near 53-man roster cuts before Week 1. The Saints could easily be on the hunt for tackle help in the coming weeks, especially if the cost for a developmental player who can help ends up this cheap.
