Pro Football Focus’ Doug Kyed put together a list of eight players who could be surprise roster cuts or trade options in speaking with his sources around the league, and one New Orleans Saints veteran came up in those conversations: tight end Nick Vannett. The Saints have some younger players they like better, and Taysom Hill’s shift in focus from quarterback to tight end makes it tough for Vannett to get through the numbers game at the position. Here’s what Kyed wrote of Vannett’s status:
“Vannett has played just three first-quarter snaps and four fourth-quarter snaps this preseason, with the majority of his work coming in the second and third quarters. Holtz, Krull and Chris Herndon, who was cut Tuesday, are the only other Saints tight ends to see work in the third and fourth quarters. Trautman, Hill and Johnson have only played in the first half.”
Vannett currently has a $3.3 million salary cap hit, and the Saints releasing him now would save just $1.1 million against the cap with the team still on the hook for the remaining $2.2 million. But trading him would yield $3 million in savings while leaving only $300,000 behind in dead money. If they’re comfortable putting Hill and Adam Trautman in a big spot with Juwan Johnson backing them up, that may be the best path forward. Part-time fullback J.P. Holtz and undrafted rookie Lucas Krull are also still in the mix.
But it’s tough to not be distracted by another player on Kyed’s list of surprise trade candidates. He reports that the Miami Dolphins have “brought up” franchise tagged tight end Mike Gesicki in trade talks with other teams. Gesicki is an accomplished pass-catcher (he’s totaled 73, 53, and 51 receptions the last three years) but he’s struggled to pick up the blocking assignments in Miami’s new offense, playing long after other starters were pulled from their last preseason game. Any team that trades for Gesicki would have to pay the fully-guaranteed $10.931 million he’s earning on the tag this year.
Blocking has been a weakness in Gesicki’s game dating back to his college career at Penn State. At this point he is who is: an elite athlete with rare receiving ability who lacks the skills to throw down at the line of scrimmage. If the Dolphins are willing to part ways with him because of it, the Saints would be wise to see if they can benefit from a divorce. Right now they’re putting all their faith in Hill’s ability to stay healthy and Trautman finally breaking out in his third year as a pro. Gesicki is a significantly safer bet, even if he’s not staying inline to block very often.
If Miami wants a blocking tight end, maybe Vannett and a draft pick could go out to bring Gesicki to New Orleans. That gets the Dolphins what they want and upgrades the position for the Saints while making it a little easier to absorb Gesicki’s cap hit (they’re currently under the cap by about $11.789 million; this trade would leave them under it by $3.858 million, with enough resources for in-season accounting). We’ve seen New Orleans cut a lot of trades in August and September, but we’ll just have to wait and see if anything develops this time around.
