Just how confident is Mickey Loomis that Marshon Lattimore will be playing for the New Orleans Saints this year? The team’s general manager fielded questions from local media during his pre-2024 draft press conference on Tuesday, and the topic of Lattimore’s status came up.
So how did Loomis react when asked whether he was confident Lattimore would be on the roster this year?
“Yeah,” Loomis said, but when asked if he’d have responded with anything but a positive confirmation, he replied with “What do you think?”
When asked a follow-up question, Loomis tried to tamp it down, saying that he was “trying to avoid” the topic of player availability. But his next observation was a little more telling.
“Everybody is tradeable,” Loomis continued, “It depends on the offer you get. I don’t like trading players that have been contributors. There’s too many variables.”
That sure doesn’t make it sound like the Saints are open for business and shopping Lattimore around. They set the stage for this speculation back in January with a unique contract restructure that made Lattimore’s contract easier to trade, following reports of friction between the team and its star cornerback behind the scenes.
After he averaged 14.6 starts per year with four Pro Bowl appearances in his first five seasons, separate injuries have limited Lattimore to just 17 games over the last two years. Sources within the organization let it be known to the media that they were frustrated with a player they perceived as being injury-prone and slow to recover. Fair or not (we’re inclined to downplay it; a lacerated kidney and sprained ankle have nothing to do with each other), that’s how the relationship began to fray.
So it’s relieving to see that things have settled down now. The trade market for veteran corners is terrible right now and the Saints would be moving Lattimore at a big loss. It’s still possible they could trade him, as Loomis acknowledged, but it doesn’t appear to be as likely as it did a few months ago. We’ll see if that changes on draft day or in the summer months ahead.
