The pre-draft press conferences held by NFL general managers are normally short on specifics, but Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis did own up to something on Tuesday afternoon.
He admitted that the Saints have engaged in trade talk with the Jets about running back Chris Ivory. The Jets hosted Ivory on a visit before he signed his restricted free agent tender with the Saints last week and there were reports of a trade offer on the table even before Ivory put pen to paper. Larry Holder of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that Loomis also said that there have been discussions with other teams regarding a deal for Ivory.
No deal is imminent at the moment, although there wouldn’t figure to be much action this far ahead of the middle rounds of the draft. The Jets are believed to be offering something around the fifth round and the Saints don’t need to be in any hurry to take that pick without letting the early rounds of the draft play out first.
With Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles and Mark Ingram at running back, the Saints have enough depth to trade Ivory without hurting their run game. Given their needs on defense and at left tackle, an extra pick could come in handy later this week.