The Saints Should Trade This Player While They Still Can

The NFC South is one of the most intriguing divisions in football right now. With the addition of Tom Brady, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are trying to challenge the New Orleans Saints for the top spot, while the Carolina Panthers are in a full rebuild and the Atlanta Falcons are somewhere in the middle.

With Drew Brees nearing retirement, the Saints need to balance their roster in a way that keeps them competitive now without sacrificing the future. That's why it would make a lot of sense for New Orleans to trade away Tre'Quan Smith.

A 2018 third-round pick, Smith has showed flashes as an exciting prospect. In his rookie year he had a 157-yard game, as well as another 111-yard, 2-touchdown game. But he has been highly inconsistent, racking up fewer than 30 yards in six of his 26 games.

He could certainly still have some solid potential, but he just doesn't really match up with the Saints' timeline. He's not the immediate contributor they need him to be for the 2020 season, and with two middling seasons under his belt and just two years left on his contract, he's also not necessarily a long-term answer even if he does make some strides.

Instead of gambling that he pans out and comes back on a reasonable contract, the Saints would be wise to push that value further into the future and see what kind of draft pick return they could get in exchange for Smith, as a rebuilding team may be interested in adding a high-upside playmaker.

It may hurt to see an exciting young player leave, but those are the kind of tough decisions it takes to sustain the consistent level of greatness that Saints fans have become accustomed to.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.