The New Orleans Saints shocked the football world on Tuesday when they traded Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham and a fourth-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for center Max Unger and a first-round pick. Is the next step to address the many holes on their defense?
General Manager Mickey Loomis appeared on Sirius XM NFL Radio on Tuesday night to explain his reasoning behind trading Graham - perhaps the best tight end in the league - just one season after signing him to a four-year, $40 million contract. One obvious reason was the team's nightmarish salary cap issue, and Loomis addressed the other.
"We've had a good offensive team for a number of years," he said. "We've been able to finish in the top four or five in offense in eight of the last nine years. We do well on that side of the ball, but we've got to get better on defense. There are three ways to get players in our league. That's through free agency, it's through the draft and then trades. We believe in using all avenues. We took one of our assets and turned it into some resources that we can hopefully improve our defense with."
The Saints have the No. 13 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and acquired Seattle's No. 31 pick, which will likely help them add to the defensive side of the ball. ESPN Insider Todd McShay has New Orleans selecting Clemson outside linebacker Vic Beasley with their first pick, which would be a good addition to their pass rush. Here's what McShay wrote about Beasley:
"He turned in one of the best all-around workouts of the 322 players invited to this year's combine ... He has the fastest first step of any defender I've studied on tape this year, his football character is outstanding and he was remarkably productive at Clemson (44.5 tackles for loss and 25 sacks the past two seasons)."
While Beasley remains an option at No. 13, cornerbacks Marcus Peters (Washington) and Kevin Johnson (Wake Forest) will probably be available at that point and could even reach the back-end of the first round. Both McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. have Peters going to the Baltimore Ravens at No. 26, but McShay has Johnson going at No. 14 to the Miami Dolphins while Kiper has him falling to the Dallas Cowboys at No. 27. Both McShay and Kiper believe Peters and Johnson can contribute immediately, which is something the Saints need to complement safeties Jairus Byrd and Kenny Vaccaro.
Depending on what New Orleans plans to do with their draft picks, there remain a number of defensive options projected to be available after the 13th pick, including Oregon DE Arik Armstead, Kentucky OLB Bud Dupree, LSU CB Jalen Collins and Virginia OLB Eli Harold.
As we know with the draft, some players can be selected earlier than expected, so the Saints will likely hammer out a plan with various backup options before Apr. 30.
