Saints should gift AFC Super Bowl contender with key trade deadline difference maker following recent injury news
A fire sale should be on the horizon for plenty of teams around the NFL ahead of the league's Nov. 4th trade deadline. The New Orleans Saints lack 2026 NFL Draft capital and have plenty of experienced roster pieces to move on from in a season where they have struggled consistently under first-year head coach Kellen Moore. As of now, the Saints hold the first overall pick in next year's draft and are destined to earn a last place finish in the NFC South.
Making a trade to bolster the Buffalo Bills defense may be in New Orleans' best interest for their long-term success, and edge rusher Carl Granderson is a name that could spark interest for plenty of playoff contenders.
Trading Carl Granderson to the Bills makes sense for the Saints
Granderson holds some of the most intriguing value when it comes to roster pieces that New Orleans could deal at the deadline.
He is still just 28 years old and has produced at a solid clip this season for the Saints. Granderson is also under contract for two more seasons on his current deal. I believe that he's been underrated in seasons past for New Orleans, but his ceiling is clearly limited. Moving on is a route that the Saints must consider if they receive the right offer for Granderson.
Adam Zientek, who covers the Bills, explained some reasons why this sort of deal makes sense for Buffalo and how they can find a way to make the money work with it. The Saints need to entertain this scenario if the Bills are showing interest in adding a talented pass rusher.
"The Buffalo Bills need some serious help after injuries to both defensive end Michael Hoecht and defensive tackle Ed Oliver. That's where the New Orleans Saints enter the mix, no, it's not about wide receivers Chris Olave or Rasheed Shahid, but rather outside linebacker Curtis Granderson. What makes him so enticing for the Bills would be his current cap situation, paired with Buffalo's. According to Over the Cap, the Bills are sitting at $1,670,488, which doesn't make moves easy. They still need money to operate in the ever-changing landscape of the team, with injuries, practice squad signings, among a host of other things.
For Granderson, Buffalo could pull off the trade with some cash to spare. With nine weeks already come and gone, Granderson's total salary would be reduced to $585,000, which is absolutely within the range of what the team is hoping to spend. Through nine weeks, Granderson has two passes defended with four and a half sacks with 33 combined tackles. Buffalo needs help, and the cost of Granderson might be too sweet to pass up. He's not the big-name Bills Mafia was hoping for, but he could come in and make an immediate impact on the roster. Brandon Beane, your move."
-- Adam Zientek, A to Z Sports
Granderson is a player who would certainly hurt the defense's talent pool if he's dealt. There would be a clear hole at his position, even with the recent emergence of Chase Young since he has returned from injury. Cameron Jordan has been a non-factor for much of this season, and there's little other proven depth when it comes to getting after the QB in New Orleans.
That being said, sending Granderson to the AFC for some sort of notable draft capital is the best plan in the long-term. Awe could probably net the team a third or fourth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and provide some long-term financial improvement for the Saints salary cap situation as well.
Browns' Deshaun Watson Trade Still Haunts Franchise, Costing Draft Picks and Future Hope
With the Cleveland Browns mired in a disaster of a season with yet another unsolved quarterback situation on their hands, it’s not hard to look back to how a March 2022 trade helped us get to this point.
We’re talking about the deal that landed Deshaun Watson, arguably the worst trade in the history of the league and one that has impeded the Browns from finding anything remotely resembling a long-term solution at the most important position in sports.
To this day, the ill-fated agreement still weighs heavily on the Browns. Let’s take a look:
Loss of draft capital
The Browns surrendered three first-round selections (2022, 2023, 2024), one third-rounder (2023) and two fourth-rounders (2022, 2024) for Watson and a 2024 sixth-rounder.
Sure, the 2022 Draft didn’t offer any real answers at the quarterback position save for “Mr. Irrelevant” Brock Purdy, selected by the Niners. Although Cleveland could have picked him at any moment of that draft, they were too busy drooling over their newly acquired passer to seriously consider adding another arm. Ironically, Bailey Zappe, taken in the fourth by the Patriots, is currently a Browns backup. Pro Bowlers available in the first round when Cleveland was due to pick (13th) include safety Kyle Hamilton, offensive linemen Tyler Smith and Tyler Lindebaum, and edge rusher Jermaine Johnson II.
The 2023 Draft is more of the same. Cleveland’s original 12th overall pick turned eventually into star running back Jahmyr Gibbs for Detroit. Two Pro Bowl-wideouts were selected later in that same opening round: Jaxson Smith-Njigba and Zay Flowers. Meanwhile, the Browns settled for Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the fifth.
Lastly, the 2024 Draft ended up with Cleveland’s original pick (23rd) being exercised by Jacksonville on Pro Bowl wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr.
Even discarding the possibility of the Browns trading up in 2023 or 2024 for someone like C.J. Stroud, Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye, there was still a ton of talent left on the table. This loss of draft capital has led to multiple missed opportunities to improve elsewhere on a roster full of holes.
Loss of cap dollars
The first thing Cleveland did once legally-embattled Deshaun Watson arrived, was compound the mistake by handing him an NFL record $230 million fully guaranteed contract that still burdens the franchise to this day.
And, thanks to the money spent on Watson, the Browns haven’t been able to dive into the open market in search of a better option through free agency, such as Lamar Jackson in 2023 or Sam Darnold this past offseason. And no, we won’t even mention Baker Mayfield here. We’ll do that next.
Loss of a potential franchise quarterback
Trading for Watson also meant getting rid of Mayfield, by far the only quarterback drafted by the Browns since 1999 close to a .500 winning percentage (29-30). In fact, out of the 41 quarterbacks that have started at least one game for Cleveland since ‘99, only Mayfield and Tim Couch (22-37) won more than 10 games for the club.
Mayfield has been through some ups and downs in his career, sure, but he’s also playing the best football in his life right now for Tampa Bay, light years ahead of what Cleveland’s passers have been showing since he left.
Misguided hope of deliverance
This is probably the worst of all since it’s not as easily quantifiable: the undying expectation that -- somehow, someway -- Watson could still be something that he hasn’t been since 2020, an NFL starting quarterback.
But, after five years of mostly being suspended, deactivated or rehabbing for the last five years, can Watson still play at a high level?
Even owner Jimmy Haslam seemed to dismiss any idea of reedemption when stating "We took a big swing-and-miss with Deshaun. We thought we had the quarterback; we didn't”, back in March. More recently, he confirmed: “A big trade we made didn’t work out, and you know, we’re all suffering from that, ” while defending head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Even if the Browns open the 21-day practice window for Watson soon, there are no assurances he’s ready to see the field, and by the time he could be, the season might be over anyways.
We get it, it’s hard to move one. But now the Browns are stuck with third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel, fifth round-rookie Shedeur Sanders, career backup Zappe, a looming dead cap issue with Watson, and a long list of ifs, hadn’t they agreed to the worst trade in the history of the NFL.
