The poor New Orleans Saints got handed a bummer of a Mother’s Day weekend gift when their quarterback Derek Carr unexpectedly announced his retirement because of a major shoulder injury. It’s one thing to lose a quarterback during the offseason, but because Carr didn’t announce his retirement until after the draft, the team didn’t even get to focus on getting a signal-caller in the draft. They did pick up rookie Tyler Shough in the second round, but one has to wonder if they would have gone with a quarterback higher in the draft if they had known. Talk about bad timing.
Now, the Saints are jugging some B-list quarterbacks (no offense) and on the hunt for someone with experience. It’s not easy to find a veteran quarterback in the NFL who is available and has the skills, though.
A Lions and Saints Deal Could Be Beneficial to Both Sides
NFL analyst and expert Mike Payton of A to Z Sports pitches a trade proposal for the Lions and Saints in a May 12 feature. In it, he sends Lions quarterback Hendon Hooker to the Saints. So, what’s the deal? The Lions get a 2026 sixth-round pick and the Saints get Lions quarterback Hendon Hooker.
Honestly, Payton is great, but that doesn’t seem like the sweetest deal for the Lions. Just a sixth-rounder? He addresses this idea in the piece, stating that, “at the end of the day, the Lions are trading away a soon-to-be 28-year-old quarterback who only has one season under his belt, and that season didn’t go so well.”
“The Lions have put out plenty of signals that they feel things might not work out with Hendon Hooker and they could view Kyle Allen as a good placeholder while they wait to find their next guy,” Payton states in the piece.
He adds the tidbit that the Saints were once very interested in Hooker. “They met with him and talked with him ‘extensively’ leading up to the 2023 NFL Draft,” he explains. When the draft rolled around, it was expected that New Orleans would take Hooker on day two, but then the Lions swooped in took him two picks ahead of the Saints pick.”
More Calls for the Lions and Saints to Work Out a Deal
Payton isn’t the only one hot on this idea. Lion analyst and expert Brad Berreman of SideLion Report also champions the idea of Hooker going to the Saints.
“The Lions’ experiment with Hooker is over, and it had no viable end game anyway with a steadfast commitment to Jared Goff as the quarterback for the foreseeable future,” Berreman stated in a May 13 piece. “So, it’s now about getting what you can in a trade if an opportunity strikes, and with that in mind there is no better option than the Saints right now as they navigate a tough situation.”
So, the jury is out, and many talking heads like the idea of Hooker going to the New Orleans Saints. Time will tell if this idea comes to fruition, but there’s no question that it’s possible.
