JuJu Smith-Schuster: 5 Trades to find wide receiver a long-term home
5. New Orleans Saints
When the 2020 offseason got underway, one of the New Orleans Saints’ primary needs was getting another weapon at wide receiver to complement one of the best players in the league, Michael Thomas. The Saints answered that quickly as they inked veteran Emmanuel Sanders, who incidentally started his career in Pittsburgh.
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Sanders is a terrific option to pair with Saints for the 2020 season as they try to maximize the Super Bowl window at the end of Drew Brees‘ career. But two things still stand out. For one, New Orleans still doesn’t have a ton of great or proven options outside of Thomas and Sanders as guys like Tre’Quan Smith have yet to fully show themselves.
More importantly, though, there isn’t a long-term answer for the Saints in regards to complementing Thomas. Sanders is entering his mid-30s and could very well start to decline sooner rather than later, even in Sean Payton‘s offense. Subsequently, adding a 23-year-old playmaker like JuJu Smith-Schuster might actually make a ton of sense for this team.
The one drawback to potentially trading with the Steelers for the Saints would be the uncertain future at quarterback. Brees may be entering his final NFL season and, no matter how much Payton loves Taysom Hill, he’s not a viable answer to fill Brees’ shoes once the veteran moves on. But even then, if this team wants to have the right array of weapons for whoever their quarterback after Brees is, pairing Smith-Schuster with Thomas would be big-time.