Mickey Loomis: Marshon Lattimore a fantastic player, trade was good value for us

The Saints made one of the bigger moves ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline when they sent cornerback Marshon Lattimore to the Commanders for draft picks.

Lattimore was a 2017 first-round pick in New Orleans and is one of several older players that the Saints pinned their hopes to this season. Their 2-7 record makes it clear that wasn't the right way to go and General Manager Mickey Loomis said on WWL Tuesday "that's going to spur calls" from teams looking to bolster their own rosters.

The call from the Commanders offered the Saints third-, fourth-, and sixth-round picks in the 2025 draft and Loomis said that was too much value to ignore.

"Marshon has been a fantastic player for us," Loomis said. "He was a great draft pick — he was the defensive rookie of the year and made the Pro Bowl a number of times. He's a fantastic player, he's a good teammate. I've got nothing but good things to say about Marshon. Unfortunately, the last couple of years he's had some soft tissue injuries to deal with and a couple other injuries to deal with. But he still is, I believe, one of the better corners in our league and Washington is getting a good player for their playoff push and their run. So I wish him nothing but the best, I really do. Ultimately, it came down to a deal I thought was good for us, good value for us and that's why we did it."

The Saints' cap situation remains difficult to deal with through the 2025 season and that makes it all the more important to start building with younger, less expensive pieces in all areas of the roster. The Lattimore trade will help with that even if it makes the short-term outlook a little bleaker in New Orleans.