New Orleans Saints: Eli Apple addresses lacking secondary depth
The New Orleans Saints add depth to their secondary by trading with the New York Giants for former first-round pick Eli Apple
The NFL trade deadline is under a week away and teams are making final adjustments to their rosters. On Tuesday, the New Orleans Saints traded a fourth-round pick in 2019 and a seventh-round pick in 2020 for New York Giants cornerback Eli Apple.
New Orleans’ biggest weakness through seven weeks has been giving up touchdowns in the red zone. As it currently stands, the Saints are ranked 28th in the NFL for pass defense while giving up 13 passing touchdowns on the year. Apple is being brought in to help fix that problem.
Apple has been having a very solid 2018 season so far with 20 tackles, three assists, one forced fumble and five passes defended. The Saints felt that the extra help was a necessity for their team, but the matchup makes things more interesting.
Apple and former Rookie Defensive Player of the Year Marshon Lattimore were teammates at Ohio State together. Hopefully, the familiarity will trigger instant chemistry with the two Buckeyes defensive backs.
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Earlier this week, the Arizona Cardinals veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson expressed his concern on wanting to be traded before the deadline, the top candidate being the New Orleans Saints. The LSU alum also is searching for somewhere more familia where he can also be a contender for a Lombardi Trophy. The Saints would have been a perfect fit for Peterson, but Arizona has voiced their opinion on wanting to keep the corner on the roster
Everyone can always be traded for a price. At least, that’s how Jon Gruden must feel after controversially trading his best defensive player Khalil Mack in exchange for high draft picks. New Orleans doesn’t have a first-round pick to trade Peterson, however. As it currently stands, their 2019 pick belongs to the Green Bay Packers, which the Saints sent in exchange for the move up to draft Marcus Davenport.
Fingers are crossed that Apple can contribute to further the Saints’ success. Fans may grumble about not liking the idea of giving away so many future draft choices, but Sean Payton has a plan. He is wise enough to recognize that time is limited with Drew Brees’ reaching the tail-end of his career.
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Their best chance for a Super Bowl is with Brees, and that window is extremely small. Payton is cashing out everything he can in order to give the team one more ring before Brees retires, and it needs to happen now. New Orleans had a fantastic first half of the season, but it’s where they finish that matters the most. Even if it’s worth sacrificing some of their draft picks.