Let’s start with the facts. The Philadelphia Eagles are going to Super Bowl LVII and they own the New Orleans Saints’ first round pick at No. 10 overall in the 2023 NFL draft. It’s easy to criticize the Saints for making that trade in light of the Eagles’ championship ambitions, but let’s keep sight of what’s important here. This wasn’t a bad trade because Philadelphia is going to the Super Bowl. It’s a bad trade because New Orleans didn’t get much out of it.
To put it another way, this doesn’t have anything to do with the Eagles’ success. Our focus is on the Saints’ lack of success after that trade. If the Saints had reached the postseason and put that pick ten or twelve slots later in the first round draft order, we’re looking at this very differently. Instead, they looked inept and uncompetitive for much of their first year under Dennis Allen, and the depth issues New Orleans struggled with could’ve been addressed with the tenth pick in this year’s draft.
