New Orleans Saints make Bradley Roby trade official

The New Orleans Saints officially announced Thursday that they have acquired cornerback Bradley Roby in a trade with the Houston Texans. The team gives up a third-round draft pick in 2022 and future considerations in 2023.

The move sures up a shaky secondary heading into the regular season, but not immediately. The Saints will not have Roby this week as he finishes a suspension. New Orleans take on reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in Week One.

More about Bradley Roby

Roby was the No. 31 overall pick in the first-round by the Denver Broncos back in 2014. He spent his first five years with the Broncos as the nickel and third corner on the roster. After his rookie contract expired, Roby signed a one-year deal with the Houston Texans in 2019. And followed that up with a three-year deal worth $36 million the following year. The Ohio State product currently has 10 interceptions, eight forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and a combined 311 total tackles in his career.

While the Saints will be excited to bring in Roby, they will have to wait for one game until he is eligible to play. He is currently serving a six-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substances policy. After serving out five games last season, he has one final game to sit to complete his suspension.

Roby also joins a large number of former Buckeyes in New Orleans. He is the sixth former Ohio State player to join the current roster.

Saints secondary

The Saints were in dire need to find help at corner for this season. They enter this offseason well over the cap and were forced to part ways with starting corner Janoris Jenkins. To make matters worse Robinson elected to retire in the middle of the Saints training camp. They did attempt to move up in the draft to select either Jaycee Horn or Patrick Surtain II. But with both of them being top of the draft players New Orleans was unable to hash out a deal they liked.

Following the trade, Bradley Roby will join two other fellow Buckeyes in the Saints secondary, corner Marshon Lattimore and safety Malcolm Jenkins. Both will be starting for New Orleans this season as they did the seasons prior. He will also join recently acquired Desmond Trufant and Ken Crawley, who are also vying for the other starting corner position. C.J. Gardner-Johnson is listed as a safety but also does a lot of the team’s lifting at the nickel corner spot. But depending on what teams throw at the Saints, you could see Roby lined up there as well throughout the season.

With all the moves the Saints have made at cornerback recently, it looks like their woes might be behind them now. Coming into the season Pro Football Focus has the New Orleans defense as a high-level tier two defense, largely because of the question marks at corner. But if Roby can come in and maintain his level of performance, the Saints could be one of the best defensive teams this season.