As the NFL Scouting Combine comes to a close, more information will get revealed.
For the New Orleans Saints, there's plenty of intrigue on what they'll do over the next week ahead of the new league year starting on March 12.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano got together to debrief from their time in Indianapolis and put out what they've heard from the week. Fowler gave a couple of Saints nuggets regarding Chase Young and Paulson Adebo.
Teams I've talked to are putting Chase Young high on the overall pecking order in the pass-rush free agency market. Part of the allure: There's still big upside there (still only 25), and while he spent last offseason idle due to neck injury recovery, he's completely healthy now and training vigorously for what he hopes is a breakout season. Expect the Saints to be involved in a potential re-sign.
Saints corner Paulson Adebo is believed to be well-positioned because he's a 25-year-old, second-contract player with length and speed who is recovering well from the surgery on his femur in October. The feeling is the Saints will hope to re-sign him.
This tracks with what I reported last week. Specifically, the front office is waiting to compare their evaluations with the new staff and then go from there. At the end of the season, Adebo told me he'd be ready by training camp and was interested in returning to New Orleans. However, he knows it's a business.
Wanting to re-sign a player and then getting the job done are obviously two totally different things. The Saints have plenty of work to do when it comes to the salary cap, as they're trying to work things out with Derek Carr. His potential restructure would be a major domino to fall for New Orleans.
A defensive scheme swap under Brandon Staley could unlock more for Chase Young. He has void years with the Saints that go through 2028 and a $9 million cap hit that's coming, so maybe New Orleans can use some accounting tactics to keep him. He did like being here and fit in well.
For Paulson Adbeo, coming off a major injury may not give him a large multiyear contract, but New Orleans could look to reward him for what he has done on the field and give him a two-year deal that also pays him a bit better. Something in the range of $12-15 million over that time period might be a decent start, using what Amik Robertson and Kendall Fuller got last free agency. The Saints will still play nickel under their new defensive system, so it remains to be seen how that'll go on the field.
You can't keep everyone, and there's a huge emphasis on prioritizing needs for Kellen Moore's first season. Maybe they'll keep both or end up with one of these two players, but that remains to be seen. The Saints want to compete in 2025 and feel good about a lot of the pieces they have to do it, and the salary cap ended up coming in higher than they anticipated. They'll be players in free agency, but I wouldn't expect a ton of big splashes.
