In 2024, the New Orleans Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen in the middle of the season and finished with a 5-12 record and in fourth place in the NFC South.
Part of New Orleans’ struggle last season was their inability to get to opposing quarterbacks. They finished the year recording sacks on 6.19% of their opponents’ dropbacks, which was the eighth-lowest rate in the league.
So far this offseason, the Saints have lost Payton Turner to a one-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys, and Tanoh Kpassagnon, Camron Peterson and Trajan Jeffcoat are all still unsigned after spending the 2024 season with New Orleans.
If general manager Mickey Loomis and new head coach Kellen Moore want to improve the team’s defensive front before their first game of the 2025 season, they may consider pulling off a trade. Interestingly, Last Word on Sports’ Anthony Palacios named New Orleans as a top landing spot for Buffalo Bills edge rusher A.J. Epenesa in a trade.
Epenesa, 26, played collegiately at Iowa from 2017-19, earning First-team All-Big Ten honors twice during his time with the Hawkeyes.
The Bills selected Epenesa in the second round (No. 54 overall) of the 2020 NFL draft and gave him a rotational role right away. While he’s seen his snap counts increase each year, the edge rusher has only played more than 50% of the team’s defensive snaps in a season once.
Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
In 75 career games over five years, Epenesa has recorded 103 tackles, 44 quarterback hits, 21.5 sacks, 17 passes defensed, five forced fumbles, two interceptions and two fumbles recovered.
Last offseason, Epenesa signed a two-year, $12 million extension. He has a $7.49 million cap hit in 2025, which includes a $5.76 million base salary ($3.5 million is guaranteed), $340,000 in per-game roster bonuses and a $100,000 workout bonus.
The Saints would be responsible for the base salary, per-game roster bonuses and workout bonus, and his cap hit would be just $6.2 million. If they believe in him, New Orleans could also lock him down on a multi-year extension that could even lower that cap hit in 2025.
MORE SAINTS NEWS
New Orleans Saints named suitor to make $230 million trade with Browns
Derek Carr injury could lead to Saints blockbuster trade for franchise QB
Shedeur Sanders, Aaron Rodgers and the Saints’ 8 best options to replace Derek Carr
Saints predicted to replace injured Derek Carr with former $128 million MVP candidate
