Marshon Lattimore trade rumors: Why the Saints can't trade their Pro Bowl CB before the trade deadline

The New Orleans Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen on Monday, but that's just the beginning of what's needed to turn things around in the Big Easy. The Saints are 2-7 and in last place in the NFC South. They lost one of their biggest weapons for an unknown amount of time when Chris Olave was shipped off after a big hit in Week 9. Oh, and their salary cap situation is probably headed for a downward spiral.

The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday, November 5th at 4 p.m. ET, and the Saints are among the teams predicted to be sellers before the deadline. They have a variety of experienced teams they could be interested in, including cornerback Marshon Lattimore. ESPN's Adam Schefter noted that teams have inquired about the four-time Pro Bowler's availability.

Can the Saints trade Marshon Lattimore before the 2024 NFL trade deadline?

Technically speaking, yes. I'll go over the salary caps below, but sure, they can trade anyone on their roster who doesn't have a no-trade clause in their contract. The bigger question is what salary cap consequences such a trade will face.

What does Marshon Lattimore's cap hit and dead money look like?

Lattimore's contract would be easy for another team to acquire in a trade. His cap hit for the remainder of the 2024 season would be a prorated portion of his base salary of $1.21 million. The remainder of his cap hit for this season includes previously paid out signing and option bonus money. He is due a total of $18 million in 2025 and a total of $18.5 million in 2026, but none of that is guaranteed, according to Over The Cap.

What does a Marshon Lattimore trade mean for the Saints' salary cap?

This trade would redeem a prorated portion of $1.21 million and the Saints would have $13.4 million in dead money in 2024. Things will be difficult for New Orleans as we look ahead to 2025. The team is currently projected to be $71,408,567 over the effective salary cap next year, per Over The Cap. If they trade Lattimore, they would secure $31.66 million in dead money for 2025, as it is a post-June 1 trade. That means the dead money will be split between the rest of this season and next season. (Dead money is cash that has already been paid to a player and not factored into the salary cap.)

The Saints already have more than $71 million to clear, and dead money cannot be cleared once a player is moved. If they trade Lattimore, they are simply increasing their leverage to future years' cap. They would, in turn, have to find more people to trade, cut, or otherwise renegotiate contracts to create more cap space.

The Saints have long been part of a joke that the salary cap isn't entirely real, considering how hard they've trampled on it. In theory, they can move on, but we see the result of this strategy: they are a mediocre-to-poor team that can't afford to improve their roster because they're too busy paying for their current mediocrity.

At some point, the Saints will have to hit the reset button and put in the effort to rebuild. It just depends on when they're willing to do it and who comes out on top in the very lean years.

Will the Saints trade Marshon Lattimore before the 2024 NFL trade deadline?

The Saints CAN trade Lattimore, but the numbers above and their overall history suggest they won't trade Lattimore. It's not how they work. They have never had a player take up $31 million of their cap space. The highest cap hit they have ever had in a single season was $24 million for Drew Brees in 2018. When he retired after the 2020 season, he and the Saints waited until June 11 to do so of submitting his resignation papers so they could split his remaining dead cap hit in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Anything is possible, but if the Saints decide to trade Marshon Lattimore before 4 p.m. ET on November 5th, I will print and eat this article (Disclaimer: I will not print and eat this article).