Canal Street Chronicles
The New Orleans Saints have been highly active in the trade market, which makes sense with depth issues around the roster and impending cuts ahead of the 53-man roster deadline. In the past two weeks, the Saints traded DT Khalen Saunders to the Jacksonville Jaguars for center Luke Fortner, and sent a 4th-round pick to the Denver Broncos for WR Devaughn Vele. Giving up draft capital is always daunting when the future of a team is extremely volatile, but the Saints clearly believe in this team, and going into the season with a strong roster is a priority. One of the areas the team needed to upgrade was offensive line depth, particularly at the tackle position. With injuries piling up, the Saints were always going to bring in some players to attempt to alleviate that growing issue, and today, just hours before the 53-man roster deadline, New Orleans did just that via the trade market. Per Adam Schefter, the Saints have traded a 2028 6th-round pick for offensive tackle Asim Richards and a 2028 7th-round pick from the Dallas Cowboys.
Starting with the player, Asim Richards is a 24-year-old former 5th-round offensive tackle. His spot on the Dallas Cowboys roster was in doubt, but the Saints made this move before he could hit waivers and get claimed by another team, which was probably the expectation. In 2024, per PFF, Asim Richards had a 69.5 pass-blocking grade. This ranked 52nd amongst other tackles around the league, which is great for a backup, but his run blocking is where some issues arise. Richards had a 44.5 run blocking grade in 2024, but in 2023 (his rookie year), he had a 63.0 grade.
Being only 24, on a cheap contract until the end of the 2026 season, and already showing good blocking skills against starters, Asim Richards is the perfect player to potentially fix the Saints’ issue at tackle depth.
