Saints Fan-Favorite Surprisingly Named Top Trade Candidate

The New Orleans Saints have had one of the most surprising offseasons of any team in the National Football League.

With the salary cap situation looking pretty bleak after the 2024 season ended, it seemed like a rebuild could at least be possible. There was a time in which the Saints had -$51 million in cap space.

That's obviously significant, but the team opted to restructure a handful of internal deals in order to actually add more to the franchise and push the major financial issues into the future. As is the case every offseason, there's a lot of speculation about who could be done with an organization.

For the Saints, three-time Pro Bowler Tyrann Mathieu was someone who was mentioned as a candidate to be on the way out of town. There was so much chatter that Mathieu himself took to social media to say he wasn't leaving. Shortly after, he and the team agreed on an updated deal for the 2025 season to keep him in town.

It would be pretty shocking to see him wearing any other jersey in 2025 now. This didn't stop FOX Sports' Ralph Vacchiano from listing him as the team's top trade candidate.

"New Orleans Saints: S Tyrann Mathieu," Vacchiano said. "The Honey Badger took a pay cut and is now due just $4 million guaranteed for the 2025 season. That was reportedly done to help keep him in New Orleans with the cap-strapped Saints. But it also makes him much more tradeable if the Saints want to go that direction.

"He's about to be 33 and isn't the player he used to be, but he's been incredibly durable over the past eight seasons and still had 10 interceptions in the past three years in New Orleans. The Saints are rebuilding, and Mathieu can help with their youth movement. But he has no future there beyond this season. They might be better off getting what they can for him if the right offer comes along."

A couple of months ago this would've made more sense. Now, it doesn't seem likely.

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