Ask 100 people, Family Feud style, for the most notable thing about the New Orleans Saints’ haul in the 2025 NFL Draft, and “Tyler Shough” would be the No. 1 answer. In fact, there might not be another answer.
But as uncommon as it is for the Saints to take a quarterback high in the draft, they managed to do something else last year that’s even more rare.
It was the first time in 12 years that general manager Mickey Loomis and the New Orleans front office did not swing a trade during the draft.
Some of the trades have been seismic. Trading up to No. 6 to select defensive tackle Johnathan Sullivan in Loomis’ first draft as GM in 2003. Coming up for Mark Ingram in 2011. Multiple first-round trades in 2022 to get Chris Olave and Trevor Penning.
Many others have been ordinary and all but forgotten, pick swaps that happen deep into the draft on Saturday afternoon.
One thing is for sure: New Orleans is among the most active trade partners in the NFL, and history tells us (assuming last year was an aberration) that there will be wheeling and dealing during this year’s draft from April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.
Here’s a complete history of the Saints’ draft-day trades under Loomis’ leadership. (Note: Only trades made during the draft are listed here.)
2003 draft
WITH ARIZONA
Saints received: No. 6 pick (DT Johnathan Sullivan), No. 37 (OT Jon Stinchcomb), No. 102 (G Montrae Holland)
Cardinals received: No. 17 pick (WR Bryant Johnson), No. 18 pick (LB Calvin Pace), No. 54 pick (WR Anquan Boldin)
Note: Perhaps it’s fitting that Loomis’ first trade as GM was an aggressive move up in the first round, although the best players for both teams in this deal came later in the draft with Stinchcomb and Boldin.
WITH NEW ENGLAND
Saints received: S Tebucky Jones
Patriots received: No. 78 pick (flipped to Dolphins, OT Wade Smith), No. 239 (LB Tully Banta-Cain)
WITH SEATTLE
Saints received: No. 203 pick (WR Kareem Kelly)
Seahawks received: DT Norman Hand
2004 draft
WITH MINNESOTA
Saints received: No. 50 pick (WR Devery Henderson), No. 151 (flipped to Washington — see below)
Vikings received: No. 48 pick (LB Dontarrious Thomas)
WITH WASHINGTON
Saints received: No. 139 pick (DT Rodney Leisle), 2005 second-round pick (S Josh Bullocks)
Washington received: No. 81 (TE Chris Cooley), No. 151 (OT Mark Wilson)
WITH JACKSONVILLE
Saints received: CB Jason Craft
Jaguars received: No. 150 pick (CB Chris Thompson)
WITH DALLAS
Saints received: No. 156 pick (FB Mike Karney)
Cowboys received: No. 182 (flipped to Raiders, LB Cody Spencer), No. 206 (flipped to Buccaneers, WR Mark Jones)
2005 draft
WITH HOUSTON
Saints received: No. 13 pick (OT Jammal Brown)
Texans received: No. 16 (DT Travis Johnson), 2006 second-round pick (OT Eric Winston)
2006 draft
WITH CLEVELAND
Saints received: C Jeff Faine, No. 43 pick (S Roman Harper)
Browns received: No. 34 (LB D’Qwell Jackson)
2007 draft
WITH DETROIT
Saints received: No. 66 pick (CB Usama Young), No. 145 (CB David Jones)
Lions received: No. 58 pick (DE Ikaika Alama-Francis)
Note: If you’re counting, only four of these 38 trades were the Saints trading down in the draft. This was the most recent. So it would go against a 19-year trend if New Orleans were to move back from No. 8 this month.
WITH HOUSTON
Saints received: No. 107 pick (RB Antonio Pittman)
Texans received: No. 123 (CB Fred Bennett), No. 163 (OT Brandon Frye)
2008 draft
WITH NEW ENGLAND
Saints received: No. 7 pick (DT Sedrick Ellis), No. 164 (OT Carl Nicks)
Patriots received: No. 10 (LB Jerod Mayo), No. 78 (LB Shawn Crable)
Note: This was the last time the Saints picked as high as No. 8.
WITH DETROIT
Saints received: No. 144 pick (DT DeMario Pressley)
Lions received: No. 146 (FB Jerome Felton), No. 218 (S Caleb Campbell)
WITH GREEN BAY
Saints received: No. 237 pick (WR Adrian Arrington)
Packers received: 2009 sixth-round pick (CB Brandon Underwood)
2009 draft
WITH PHILADELPHIA
Saints received: No. 164 pick (P Thomas Morstead)
Eagles received: No. 222 (flipped to Colts, P Pat McAfee), 2010 fifth-round pick (flipped to Dolphins, S Reshad Jones)
Note: Want to impress friends with some trivia? Thomas Morstead and Pat McAfee were traded for each other (sort of) on draft night.
2010 draft
WITH ARIZONA
Saints received: No. 123 pick (DT Al Woods)
Cardinals received: No. 130 (DE O’Brien Schofield), No. 201 (CB Jorrick Calvin)
WITH JACKSONVILLE
Saints received: No. 158 pick (C Matt Tennant)
Jaguars received: 2011 fourth-round pick (S Chris Prosinski)
2011 draft
WITH NEW ENGLAND
Saints received: No. 28 pick (RB Mark Ingram II)
Patriots received: No. 56 pick (RB Shane Vereen), 2012 first-round pick (flipped to Bengals, G Kevin Zeitler)
2012 draft
No draft-day trades
Note: One reason this was the outlier year with no trades? The Saints didn’t have many picks to deal. They had already traded their first-rounder in the Ingram deal in 2011, and they had to forfeit their second-round pick in the aftermath of Bountygate.
2013 draft
WITH N.Y. JETS
Saints received: No. 106 pick (flipped to Dolphins — see below)
Jets received: RB Chris Ivory
WITH MIAMI
Saints received: No. 82 pick (DT John Jenkins)
Dolphins received: No. 106 (TE Dion Sims), No. 109 (flipped to Packers, OT David Bakhtiari)
2014 draft
WITH ARIZONA
Saints received: No. 20 pick (WR Brandin Cooks)
Cardinals received: No. 27 (S Deone Bucannon), No. 91 (WR John Brown)
2015 draft
WITH WASHINGTON
Saints received: No. 167 pick (CB Damian Swann)
Washington received: No. 187 (WR Evan Spencer), 2016 sixth-round pick (QB Nate Sudfeld)
2016 draft
WITH NEW ENGLAND
Saints received: No. 61 pick (S Vonn Bell)
Patriots received: No. 78 (G Joe Thuney), No.112 (WR Malcolm Mitchell)
WITH WASHINGTON
Saints received: No. 120 pick (DT David Onyemata)
Washington received: No. 152 (DT Matt Ioannidis), 2017 fifth-round pick (TE Jeremy Sprinkle)
Note: The 2017 draft rightfully gets a lot of attention, but the year before, the Saints took Sheldon Rankins and All-Pro receiver Michael Thomas in the first two rounds, then swung these two deals that produced multi-year starters later in the draft.
2017 draft
WITH SAN FRANCISCO
Saints received: No. 67 pick (RB Alvin Kamara)
49ers received: No. 229 (CB Adrian Colbert), 2018 second-round pick (flipped to Washington, RB Derrius Guice)
Note: A key component of perhaps the best draft in team history.
2018 draft
WITH GREEN BAY
Saints received: No. 14 pick (DE Marcus Davenport)
Packers received: No. 27 (flipped to Seahawks, RB Rashaad Penny), No. 147 (flipped to Rams, LB Micah Kiser), 2019 first-round pick (flipped to Giants, CB Deandre Baker)
2019 draft
WITH MIAMI
Saints received: No. 48 pick (C Erik McCoy), No. 116 (flipped to Jets — see below)
Dolphins received: No. 62 (flipped to Cardinals, WR Andy Isabella), No. 202 (OT Isaiah Prince), 2020 second-round pick (DT Raekwon Davis)
WITH N.Y. JETS
Saints received: No. 105 pick (S C.J. Gardner-Johnson)
Jets received: No. 116 (flipped to Titans, S Amani Hooker), No. 168 (flipped to Titans, LB D’Andre Walker)
2020 draft
WITH CLEVELAND
Saints received: No. 74 pick (LB Zack Baun), No. 244 (flipped to Vikings, see below)
Browns received: No. 88 (DT Jordan Elliott), 2021 third-round pick (WR Anthony Schwartz)
WITH MINNESOTA
Saints received: No. 105 pick (TE Adam Trautman)
Vikings received: No. 130 (DT James Lynch), No. 169 (CB Harrison Hand), No. 203 (OT Blake Brandel), No. 244 (QB Nate Stanley)
WITH HOUSTON
Saints received: No. 240 (QB Tommy Stevens)
Texans received: 2021 sixth-round pick (flipped to Bills, S Damar Hamlin)
Note: The Saints traded every remaining pick they had for the rights to draft Trautman — and then got back into the draft anyway by giving up a 2021 selection.
2021 draft
WITH DENVER
Saints received: No. 76 (CB Paulson Adebo)
Broncos received: No. 98 (G Quinn Meinerz), No. 105 (LB Baron Browning)
WITH INDIANAPOLIS
Saints received: No. 206 pick (OT Landon Young)
Colts received: No. 218 (QB Sam Ehlinger), No. 229 (WR Mike Strachan)
2022 draft
WITH WASHINGTON
Saints received: No. 11 pick (WR Chris Olave)
Commanders received: No. 16 (WR Jahan Dotson), No. 98 (RB Brian Robinson Jr.), No. 120 (flipped to Panthers, LB Brandon Smith)
Note: The No. 16 pick came in a pre-draft deal with the Philadelphia Eagles that cost the Saints the No. 10 pick in 2023.
2023 draft
WITH CHICAGO
Saints received: No. 103 pick (OT Nick Saldiveri)
Bears received: No. 115 (RB Roschon Johnson), No. 165 (CB Terell Smith)
WITH JACKSONVILLE
Saints received: No. 127 pick (QB Jake Haener)
Jaguars received: No. 227 (DT Raymond Vohasek), 2024 fourth-round pick (DT Jordan Jefferson)
WITH DENVER
Saints received: No. 195 pick (WR A.T. Perry)
Broncos received: TE Adam Trautman, No. 257 (C Alex Forsyth)
2024 draft
WITH GREEN BAY
Saints received: No. 41 pick (CB Kool-Aid McKinstry)
Packers received: No. 45 (LB Edgerrin Cooper), No. 168 (flipped to Bills, DE Javon Solomon), No. 190 (flipped to Eagles, C Dylan McMahon)
2025 draft
No draft-day trades
Note: For the first time since 2015, the Saints made their first three picks without any swapping, taking Kelvin Banks, Tyler Shough and Vernon Broughton.