Saints predicted to trade Marshon Lattimore to a team with New Orleans ties

With the 2024 NFL Draft firmly in the rearview mirror and training camp rapidly approaching, don't be surprised if New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore is dealt before the start of the season. ESPN's Bill Barnwell marvelously outlined a series of potential trade candidates. His first big project was trying to find a new team to put Lattimore on. He sided with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Barnwell has the Jaguars surrendering just a fourth-round pick for Lattimore.

While I have said before that the Houston Texans are my favorite potential landing spot for Lattimore, as well as having outlined him possibly being traded to the Green Bay Packers, I do like where Barnwell's head is at regarding getting Lattimore to Jacksonville. It has everything to do with how his contract is structured, his recent injury history and Ryan Nielsen coordinating the Jaguars defense.

In laymen's terms, the Saints deferred money to Lattimore only to the point that a bonus will be due before the start of the season. They love to kick that can down the road, but eventually they are going to run out of pavement. With Lattimore missing 17 games over the last two seasons and taking up a sizable part of their cap, I could see the Saints trading him. Jacksonville might actually be the best fit.

Let's discuss why that is and why the Saints may need to get out ahead of this before it is too late.

Marshon Lattimore's best trade destination is actually in Jacksonville

Barnwell's argument is that age, injury history and price will limit Lattimore's trade market more than even we expected. The Saints seem to like their defensive backs already, and just picked up former Alabama standout Kool-Aid McKinstry a few weekends ago. As for Jacksonville, the Jaguars were porous in the back-end of their defense. It was a huge reason why they collapsed down the stretch.

Nielsen may have left New Orleans ahead of last year to coordinate the arch rival Atlanta Falcons defense, but it was not his fault why offensive-minded Arthur Smith failed as a head coach. Dirty Bird Nation was not thrilled when Nielsen left to go work for Doug Pederson down in Duval. That is what you need to know about this defensive coordinator on the rise. Lattimore played under him before.

While Nielsen is more of a defensive line guru, the Saints played great complementary defense for years under his watch serving under Sean Payton and later Dennis Allen. Although Jacksonville is not a playoff lock, they are the Texans' most formidable challenger in-division. Since the Saints play in the opposite conference of Jacksonville, it wouldn't shock me if they helped out an ally in Nielsen in this.

As soon as the Saints move on from Lattimore, the likelier of a chance this team will be rebuilding.