#Patriots LB Josh Uche is out today vs the Jets, despite not having an injury. He has been a focal point in trade talks around the NFL and his contract is very appealing to contending teams. pic.twitter.com/AP7rBEABul
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) October 27, 2024
The New Orleans Saints were targeting a few players around the trade deadline last season but ultimately did not make any moves after their trade of Wil Lutz in August. One of the players they were targeting was edge rusher Josh Uche from the New England Patriots, however, they did not make a move to get him.
Now they may have the opportunity to take a look again, as Uche was marked as a healthy inactive for the Patriots in Week 8, and has an extremely friendly contract of only one year for a total of $3 million, however it breaks down to be even more friendly in a trade scenario.
In the case of a trade, the base salary is the primary consideration, and Uche has only a $1.3 million base salary on his current deal. Then you have to factor in the trade aspect and the games played vs. games remaining, and with nine to go for the Saints (not counting the Los Angeles Chargers this week), the contract comes out favorably. Splitting his base salary across 17 games, he makes approximately $76,470 per game, and over nine games would only need to be paid $688,235 for the remaining season. At the moment, the Saints have $2,246,030 in cap space available according to OverTheCap, which makes a deal possible.
The initial asking price for Uche last season was a fourth- or fifth-round pick, and considering his status this season now being healthy inactive, it may drop slightly depending on interest from other teams. With the Detroit Lions, Washington Commanders, and San Francisco 49ers all suffering defensive line injuries among other teams, it can be assumed that Uche will definitely have a notable market. Considering the recent history of the Saints’ fourth-round draft picks (Nick Saldiveri, Jake Haener, and Ian Book being the last three) it may not be a bad price for a quality edge rusher who could help the pass rush unit that has struggled at times this season.
