Will Marshon Lattimore be playing for the New Orleans Saints in 2024? The Saints reworked their contract with the cornerback so that they could trade him, if they choose, back in the final weeks of the 2023 season.
Don’t get it twisted: trading Lattimore would still be expensive. Prohibitively so before June 1 (costing an extra $16 million against the salary cap). If Lattimore is going to be dealt it will be after the 2024 draft, and after June 1. The deadline: one week before the first game of the 2024 season in September.
Saints head coach Dennis Allen was asked about Lattimore’s future with the team this week at the NFL Scouting Combine. He wants to keep things focused on Lattimore’s health after injuries caused him to miss 17 games over the last two years.
“Look, Lattimore is on our football team,” Allen said when asked about Lattimore’s status. “He’s a good football player. He’s been a good football player for us. Obviously, there’s a lot of things that happen throughout the offseason, but Latt’s a big part of our team right now.”
Lattimore suffered a high ankle sprain when a teammate rolled up on him late in a midseason game with the Minnesota Vikings while he was trying to assist with a tackle; his cleat caught in the turf and twisted his leg awkwardly. The year before he suffered a lacerated kidney and other internal organ injuries after colliding with a teammate to defend a big pass over the top of the defense. Both times he was injured on, essentially, freak accidents while trying to help the team win the day.
A lot of discourse in Saints fan groups on social media has centered on perceived culture problems in New Orleans. When asked about that topic and Lattimore’s role in the locker room, Allen said: “I think it’s about guys we think can help us win football games. Guys who can continue to develop the right kind of culture here, and guys that are willing to do the things that are necessary to succeed. Marshon’s a part of our football team, he has been a big part of our football team. Unfortunately the last couple of years health has been a big factor.”
Hopefully those health issues are behind him. There aren’t many cornerbacks who can run like Lattimore and make plays on the football when he’s in good health. The team is better with him on the field and it’s in everyone’s interests to cross whatever divides have opened up. But the speculation about trading him isn’t going to go away until that September deadline passes us by.
“I think the biggest thing is, let’s get Marshon healthy and let’s see where we’re at as a football team, we’ll get the right guys out there that give us a chance to win,” Allen finished.
