Saints Almost Traded Up for Wells

NEW YORK -- Entering the draft, the talk revolving around the Saints and their No. 14 pick was that it was either going to be Malcolm Jenkins, Beanie Wells, or Knowshon Moreno. I always felt confident that Jenkins was the Saints' guy, but they apparently did have a very real interest in Wells, as they attempted to move back into the first round after picking Jenkins to acquire the former Ohio St. running back.

Wells plummeted much farther than anyone expected, eventually being selected by the Cardinals at No. 31. But the Saints were working the phones with New England (the teams are frequent draft-day trade partners), ostensibly for the Patriots' 23rd overall pick which was eventually shipped to Baltimore, with Wells in mind. Jay Glazer originally reported the talks, but coach Sean Payton has confirmed them.

Saints Coach Sean Payton is talking right now. He said the Saints did indeed try to move back into Round 1 with New England to get tailback Beanie Wells, and it would have cost them a first-rounder in 2010. But he said the talks didn't "get far enough along."

Saints fans should be thankful that the talks didn't progress far enough -- the Saints only have four picks in this draft after trading a boatload of future picks last offseason, a trend that would be better off not being repeated. They walked away from those deals with Jonathan Vilma, Jeremy Shockey, and Adrian Arrington -- all additions of great need at the time they were made -- but Wells doesn't fit into that category currently, and I believe you should only deal a future first if you're getting a sure contributor in return.

With Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas already sharing carries, Wells wouldn't have been that sure contributor.

Payton noted, however, that the activity was less about getting a running back than it was about getting a good player at a high value, so this isn't necessarily an indicator that the team will go running back with one of their remaining picks, although I think it's likely they pick up Shonn Greene if he's sitting there in the fourth round.