Saints don’t regret trading this year’s first-rounder

[Gumbo]

The Saints will be spectators this year during the first round of the draft.

And even though they got just 4.5 sacks out of defensive end Marcus Davenport last season, they don’t regret the aggressive move to go get him.

The Saints traded last year’s first-rounder (27th overall), this year’s first (30th) and a 2018 fifth-rounder to the Packers last spring so they could move up to get the pass-rusher they thought they had to have right then.

“We like it,” Saints coach Sean Payton said, via Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. “When he played last year, we feel like we saw some real good traits, to where we feel like this guy is gonna be a dominant player for us. . . .

“That’s the challenge when you try to grade that trade [a year ago]. Hypothetically, if we finished with four wins this year, that’s not a good trade because [of] the value. But 27 and 30, on any number chart I don’t think you’re gonna arrive at 14.”

Payton pointed to some dominant stretches (a two-sack game against the Vikings), and the toe injury that cost Davenport three games, in justifying the move.

They knew Davenport was a bit of a project, and he played just 40 percent of their defensive snaps last year. Since then, Davenport had surgery to fix the toe injury, and the Saints lost Alex Okafor in free agency, so they need to see more results this season.

The Saints are also without their third- and fourth-rounders this year because of trades for Teddy Bridgewater and Eli Apple, increasing the pressure on those players. But they need Davenport most of all.