NFL Executive Urges Saints To 'Completely Start Over' At Trade Deadline
The New Orleans Saints have a lot of big decisions on their plate this year. They've stumbled out to a 0-4 start on the season and don't seem to be showing any signs of turning it around.
As a result, there have been rumors indicating the Saints could part ways with a lot of valuable pieces in order to lean further into their rebuild. This could mean the Saints make more than a handful of big trades in the coming weeks. One NFL executive believes they should "completely start over."
"(Saints coach Kellen Moore) is an offensive guy, so I’m sure he doesn’t want to get rid of them," An NFL executive said, via FOX Sports' Ralph Vacchiano. "But for the good of the franchise, they’ve got to consider it. I doubt either of them will still be there when the Saints are good again. They should just completely start over."
What could the executive mean by this?
Let's dig a little deeper.
Saints need to make big moves at the trade deadline
When the executive states the Saints should completely start over, the most likely outcome includes four or five massive trades. There are a lot of Saints players who could be moved in this instance.
Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave are the first two players that come to mind as trade candidates. Kamara has received a lot of buzz over the last few weeks, with insiders linking him to the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, and plenty of others. He's unlikely to be in New Orleans by the time the team is ready to compete again. Olave is younger, but it doesn't seem like he's going to be re-signing in New Orleans.
Demario Davis, Trevor Penning, Pete Werner, Rashid Shaheed, and plenty of others make sense as trade chips, too.
At the end of the day, the Saints could cast a wide net. They could be willing to cut ties with practically any player on their roster in order to stack up on picks and younger players.
The rebuild in New Orleans is only just beginning. The team likely isn't going to compete for a while, so it's best to lean into the rebuild.
Detroit Lions vs. Cincinnati Bengals betting line is nearly unprecedented
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Detroit Lions are 10.5-point favorites over the Cincinnati Bengals. It’s currently the biggest line of Week 5 in the NFL, but the historical perspective on that line is almost unbelievable.
Per Stathead, the Lions have not been favored by that much on the road since… 1973, when the 1-2-1 Lions were also 10.5-point favorites over the 1-3 New Orleans Saints. Not to worry anybody, but the Archie Manning-led Saints actually ended up defeating Greg Landry’s Lions 20-13 that game.
In total, the Lions have been favored by 10.5 points or more 12 times in franchise history. In those games, the Lions are 9-2-1, but they have only covered the spread in four of those games.
While a 10.5-point spread in a game between a 2-2 Bengals team and a 3-1 Lions team may seem unreasonable, Cincinnati has been blown out in the past two weeks with Jake Browning as their starter in place of injured Joe Burrow. The Minnesota Vikings beat the Bengals 48-10 in Week 3, and the Denver Broncos defeated them 28-3 last week.
Meanwhile, the Lions have steamrolled two of their last three opponents. In Week 2, they handed the Chicago Bears a 52-21 beatdown, and last week it was the Browns who were at the mercy of a Lions 34-10 blowout.
Superstitious people may not like hearing this, but this game certainly has the makings of another potential lopsided game. Perhaps the Bengals will come out with some extra pride in hoping they don’t suffer their third blowout in a row. But it will take a big turnaround against a team that does not typically fall victim to big upsets. As a touchdown-or-more favorite, the Lions are 8-2 in the Dan Campbell era and have covered in six of those wins.
