Thanks for submitting your New Orleans Saints questions to me on Twitter. Here are this week’s questions of the week:
@MikeTriplett @espn What player(s) would the Saints be most likely to trade this offseason if so inclined? Armstead? Kikaha? Anthony? Cooks?
— Uncle Tuna (@Uncle_Tuna) February 1, 2017
@MikeTriplett: I don’t expect any of these guys to get dealt, since it is pretty rare for teams to trade away young players in their prime. But I can never say never after what the Saints did in 2015 (a trading spree that included Jimmy Graham, Kenny Stills, Ben Grubbs and Akiem Hicks).
So if I had to pick a candidate, I’d go with receiver Brandin Cooks.
Again, I don’t expect Cooks to be traded – especially since he’s still under contract at a super-bargain rate of $1.56 million in salary and bonuses in 2017. But that price tag will go up soon. The Saints need to decide this spring if they want to exercise their fifth-year option on Cooks for 2018 at about $8 million. And soon after that, they need to decide whether to invest even more in a long-term extension.
Obviously Cooks is still a highly-valued commodity for the Saints. He’s coming off back-to-back 1,100-yard receiving seasons. He’s capable of hitting a home run on every play. He draws a ton of coverage from top cornerbacks and safeties. And he’s only 23 years old.
But there are several reasons why a Cooks trade could make some sense.
For one thing, Cooks voiced his displeasure with his role in the offense last season, hinting that he might prefer to be used differently in another scheme instead of being used so often as just a deep threat and clear-out receiver.
For another thing, the Saints might agree that they could use a cheaper speedster as a clear-out receiver. They have proven time and again that they can reload on offense and continue to produce one of the NFL’s top passing offenses (see the Graham and Stills trades). And they are plenty deep at receiver with the emergence of rookie Michael Thomas in 2016. As dynamic as Cooks is, the Saints might ultimately decide that it doesn’t make sense for them to spend $10 million-plus on any skill-position player.
Last but not least, Cooks would draw very good value in return -- maybe not a first-round pick, but something close. You trade away guys that other teams want, not just the guys you want to get rid of. Again, see the reasoning behind the Graham and Stills trades.
As for the other players you mentioned, I think left tackle Terron Armstead would also be highly coveted by other teams, and the Saints do have a potential replacement in Andrus Peat. But I highly doubt Armstead would get dealt, both because the Saints really like him and because he wouldn’t draw maximum value with his $13 million per year salary and recent battles with knee and quad injuries.
Middle linebacker Stephone Anthony makes sense since he could really use a change of scenery after barely playing in his second NFL season. And maybe another team had a high draft grade on Anthony and would like to take him on as a reclamation project. But I can’t imagine he would draw much more than a fifth- or sixth-round pick, if that.
And defensive end Hau’oli Kikaha would draw even less in return since his health is such a huge question mark following yet another ACL injury in 2016.
@MikeTriplett @espn do you think those few late season INT's are enough to save Byrd's job with the Saints?
— Will Constant (@wmconstant) February 1, 2017
@MikeTriplett: I lumped this in as a bonus question, because this is another one of the Saints’ biggest looming financial decisions. Safety Jairus Byrd is due $7.8 million in salary and bonuses this year, with a salary-cap cost of $11.2 million.
There is no way Byrd will stay at that price. And a few months ago, I thought he would likely be released. But then he started to play his best football in three years with the Saints during the second half of last season, drawing praise from coach Sean Payton even before he intercepted two passes against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 16.
So I think there is a good chance Byrd stays, but it will definitely require a substantial pay cut. At least slicing his salary in half, if not more.
If the Saints do release Byrd before June 1, he will cost $8 million in dead money against the salary cap, but he would be off the books for good after that.
