Did Saints miss out on alternative to improve QB with Eagles commerce?

The Saints received little or no worth in return for C.J. Gardner-Johnson after they traded with the Eagles.

The New Orleans Saints are struggling, and there’s little question that one of many areas holding them again is of great significance: Quarterback.

Andy Dalton is a veteran and intensely methodical, however he doesn’t have the X-Issue that’s going to win you huge video games and create huge moments.

Jameis Winston may need that X-Issue, however his belief in his big-play capability generally dwarfs the flexibility itself, resulting in turnovers and missed alternatives for the simple and optimistic however much less horny play.

There are plent of points the Saints want to determine, however for the long run, and proper now, the quarterback is one of them. Dalton is the starter for the foreseeable future which could work for this 12 months, however he’s a veteran closing in on retirement.

Some Saints followers identified a possibility the group may have simply pursued earlier than the season started. Let’s look into whether or not or not that will have been price it.

Saints may have tried for Gardner Minshew after they traded C.J. Gardner Johnson to the Eagles

When the Saints traded C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this 12 months, it was a disappointing transfer for followers that put logic earlier than emotion. Gardner-Johnson was intense, generally too intense. Along with being a stable defensive again, he was a part of the soul and character of the group.

Gardner-Johnson and the Saints couldn’t agree on contract negotiations, although, and that led to the group seeking to commerce him.

As a result of it was well-known that CJGJ and the group weren’t on the perfect of phrases, it was laborious for New Orleans to get a lot worth out of the deal. Once they despatched him to Philly, they received a fifth- and sixth-round draft choose in return. Not a lot for the participant who now leads the NFL in interceptions with 5.

Some Saints followers, now annoyed with the quarterback state of affairs, commented on Reddit that the team should have tried to get Gardner Minshew in that deal, who’s the Eagles’ backup QB.

Minshew was in all probability accessible if the Saints actually needed to push for him. There was numerous buzz at the end of last year and before this season began that the Eagles ought to attempt to transfer Minshew, who is without doubt one of the higher and extra standard backups within the league.

The Saints have been, on the time, satisfied one among their choices may carry out high quality at quarterback. That wager has not precisely paid off. Would they be higher off with Minshew?

Gardner Minshew as a long-term QB possibility is murky

Little question, the Gardner Minshew story is inspiring, enjoyable, no matter you wish to name it. He provides off nice, underdog vibes, impressing as a sixth-round draft choose. With the Jaguars and Eagles he has thrown 41 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, totaling practically 6,000 yards in 22 begins. He averages 214 passing yards per sport.

Most spectacular is what Minshew was in a position to do in Jacksonville with such little expertise.

There’s no query that if the Saints actually needed to squeeze Minshew out of the deal, they may have. The Eagles obtained Minshew for a conditional sixth-round choose after they traded with the Jags. So maybe the Saints may have merely gotten Minshew as a substitute of the picks, and even subbed out the fifth-round choose for Minshew as a substitute.

However would which have modified their fortunes a lot? Minshew would in all probability be a greater possibility than the default at QB in New Orleans proper now. It’s necessary to recollect, although, that backup quarterbacks are considerably laborious to gauge.

Taysom Hill, Saints’ utility man and sometimes-QB is proof of that. The Saints run Hill sometimes as a quarterback and have a really restricted look of performs for him. A part of the rationale he’s laborious to counter from a defensive standpoint is just that there’s not sufficient info on him for defenses to arrange.

Give somebody like Hill or Minshew full-time starter standing they usually may get discovered by opposing groups after a number of video games.

So, perhaps Minshew would have been good for the Saints as a stopgap quarterback this 12 months, however that also doesn’t clear up their future. Minshew is a free agent after this 12 months, so buying and selling for him with the Eagles would have been little greater than a band-aid answer to the identical issues the group is going through now.

If the Saints did consider in him as a quarterback possibility then — which it looks as if they didn’t — they may simply as simply go after him within the open market this offseason.

Would they be higher off with him this 12 months? Perhaps. Wouldn’t it clear up their long-term, directionless future points? Not even shut.

It’s an attention-grabbing thought to contemplate what the Saints may have executed as a substitute, nevertheless it’s revisionist historical past that doesn’t maintain a lot water.