There were a number of trades before Tuesday’s deadline to cut rosters to 53 players and the most impactful of them might have been the one that sent defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson from the Saints to the Eagles.
While Gardner-Johnson was looking for a new contract as he entered the final year of his current deal, there was no sign that the Saints were planning to trade him before word of the deal broke on Tuesday and the compensation — a fifth- and sixth-round pick with a seventh-rounder going back to Philly — didn’t knock the socks off of most people. Saints head coach Dennis Allen wouldn’t comment on Gardner-Johnson’s contract demands when discussing a trade that he said was “not an easy decision” for the team to make.
“I love the player,” Allen said, via Luke Johnson of NOLA.com. “These moves are not easy. But it was something we felt like was going to be a good move for us.”
The Saints are confident that Marcus Maye, Tyrann Mathieu, P.J. Williams, Marshon Lattimore, and Paulson Adebo give them all they need in the secondary this season. The results of that bet will weigh heavily on the NFC South race this season.
