This is interesting: Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Andy Isabella has been granted permission to seek a trade, his agent tells the NFL Wire Network’s Henry McKenna. A second round pick in the 2019 NFL draft, Isabella has been buried on Arizona’s depth chart and could really benefit from a change of scenery during a contract year. And the New Orleans Saints are, potentially, a great fit for him.
If nothing else, there should be enough competition at the position for Isabella to be worth adding for training camp. Michael Thomas and Marquez Callaway are returning from the 2021 roster. So are practice squad holdovers Easop Winston Jr., Kevin White, and Kawaan Baker. Jalen McCleskey and Kirk Merritt also signed reserve/future contracts. Isabella couldn’t make some noise in that group? Several other Saints receivers are headed for free agency — Deonte Harty, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Tre’Quan Smith, Kenny Stills, and Ty Montgomery — and it isn’t guaranteed that they re-sign with New Orleans. The Saints aren’t in a position to turn down the help.
Any team acquiring the 25-year-old will be on the hook for his $1,126,350 salary cap hit, which is easily affordable. If he can find a role and maybe crack the starting lineup in New Orleans, it looks like a steal. The Cardinals only played him in eight games last season totaling 30 snaps of offense and 24 on special teams. He caught his only target of the year to gain 13 yards and convert a first down.
There weren’t many snaps to go around behind Christian Kirk, A.J. Green, DeAndre Hopkins, and Rondale Moore, but Arizona didn’t do Isabella any favors by playing Antoine Wesley (a favorite of head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who was brought with him from Texas Tech) ahead of him. Of that group Kirk, Green, and Wesley are headed for free agency, but it appears Isabella’s time in Arizona has run its course regardless of the changes around him.
So this is worth exploring for the Saints. Isabella wouldn’t be a high-end addition to start with Thomas, but he could improve the depth chart and compete for a roster spot in that second tier of receivers. If Isabella can be acquired for, say, a conditional seventh round pick in 2022 or 2023 it’s worth a try. You probably walk away from a higher asking price than that, though. Maybe he thrives in a better environment and you end up with a nice player gotten at a discount.
Isabella could flame out in New Orleans, too, but it’s not like the Saints have found many diamonds in the rough during the draft’s final round lately — the last four players they’ve picked in the seventh round have appeared in 34 combined games, with linebacker Kaden Elliss accounting for 31 of them. It’s a gamble either way, but fairly low stakes for NFL standards. I’d bet on a second-round talent rather than another rookie who may not be drafted at all if the Saints don’t pick them, like Baker, Tommy Stevens, Alize Mack, or their predecessors.
