Cleveland Browns: 5 trade targets in event of a Saints fire sale
By Sam Penix
5 Saints trade targets for the Cleveland Browns
The New Orleans Saints currently sit more than $105 million over the 2021 salary cap. That’s not a typo. They are truly in cap hell, and while that number will drop to the $75 million range if quarterback Drew Brees retires, they still have an insane amount of work to do. The Cleveland Browns can help them out, with picks to offer the Saints as they venture into a total rebuild.
5. DB Chauncey Gardner-Johnson
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson was a first-round talent in 2019 but fell all the way to the fourth round due to “character concerns”. Those have yet to be vindicated, as CGJ has played a key role in the New Orleans secondary, rotating between slot corner and safety and never shying away from on-field chatter.
He may be the league’s best trash talker and is incredibly adept at getting into receivers’ heads and getting them to snap, as evidence by the Chicago Bears Anthony Miller throwing a punch and getting himself ejected in the Wild Card round a few weeks ago.
Gardner just turned 23 years old in December and still has two (quite cheap) years remaining on his rookie contract, so why would the Saints even consider trading him? Because they can’t afford to keep him beyond 2022.
If they are going to be rebuilding (because let’s face it; neither Taysom Hill nor Jameis Winston is a good long-term option at QB), they should be attempting to acquire as much draft capital as possible. Netting a third-rounder from the Browns would be a great way to do that, and Cleveland would end up with a very nice solution to their slot corner issue.