With their pass defense struggling, the New Orleans Saints made a trade Tuesday to bolster their secondary, giving the Minnesota Vikings another player for whom to prepare before Sunday night’s matchup.
New Orleans traded a fourth and seventh-round pick for former New York Giants first-round pick Eli Apple, who was taken 10th overall in 2016 out of Ohio State. The third-year player had one career interception for the Giants, who ostensibly became sellers after a 1-6 start and shipped Apple off in exchange for draft capital.
Apple joins Ken Crawley, P.J. Williams and last season’s Defensive Rookie of the Year Marshon Lattimore as the Saints’ primary cornerbacks. The unit, which finished 15th in pass defense last season, ranks 28th in yards per game allowed heading into Week 8, and Pro Football Focus considers them the second-worst coverage unit in football, ahead of only San Francisco.
The analytics website ranks Apple 45th in coverage, 64th in tackling and 55th overall amongst qualified corners. He recovered a fumble in New York’s loss Monday night to Atlanta and was dealt the next day.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, who individually studies opponents’ cornerbacks, had to add Apple to his list after the Tuesday trade, though it’s unclear whether Apple will be healthy enough to play Sunday because of an ankle injury suffered Monday night.
“You factor it in, and you gather all the information you can,” Cousins said Wednesday. “There’s certain things you won’t know, but you try to gather the information that you can know and then react on Sunday to anything that changes.”
Any playing time Apple gets may come at Crawley’s expense. The 25-year-old has struggled in coverage this season, allowing 29 catches, four touchdowns and 478 yards, the fifth highest total allowed by a corner, per PFF. Apple has permitted 18 catches, 225 yards and zero touchdowns.
Last season, Cousins played one of his best games against the Saints, going 29 for 41 with 385 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in a 34-31 loss. But the Saints secondary still earned his respect.
“I think highly of them,” Cousins said. “Marshon Lattimore was as good a corner as I played last year in our schedule. I also thought a lot of Crawley, and I think a lot of Eli Apple. I just think there’s some good players out there that are going to give us a handful.”
The Saints defensive backs group took a hit when nickel corner Patrick Robinson broke his ankle in late September. Robinson was signed to a four-year deal in the offseason to upgrade New Orleans’ slot coverage. P.J. Williams has since slid into Robinson’s role on the inside, where he’ll likely get paired with the versatile Adam Thielen or Stefon Diggs. The tandem combined for 461 yards against the Saints in their two meetings a year ago, including Diggs’ miraculous touchdown catch in the divisional playoff game.
New Orleans secondary gave up 417 yards through the air in a loss to Tampa Bay in Week 1 and 359 yards to Atlanta in an overtime win in Week 3. Collectively, they’ve improved since, allowing fewer than 275 yards each of the last three weeks.
Apple, who played with fellow Saints Vonn Bell, Marshon Lattimore and Michael Thomas at Ohio State, gives them more flexibility.
“We liked his skillset,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton on a conference call. “We evaluated him closely coming out [of college]. Obviously we’ve got a handful of Ohio Sate players here that help us with insight when it comes to something like that, and we felt the value was right with a fourth-round pick.”
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