New Orleans Saints CB Marshon Lattimore, who is in the last year of his rookie contract, has just signed a five-year extension worth $97.6 million. The signing was reported following the win against Green Bay, in which the Saints defense dominated on all facets of the game and only allowed three points. This deal ties him with Baltimore Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey’s contract as the second-highest paid CB in the league, at $19.5 million annually. Only LA Rams CB Jalen Ramsey’s $21 million is higher (contract breakdown from Spotrac). Lattimore has been the rock at CB for the Saints and has said before that he feels like he is “the best cornerback in the league“. If Sunday’s game against the 2020 MVP is a sign of things to come, then the Saints will get their money’s worth out of Lattimore.
The newly paid star, however, is undergoing surgery on his thumb after an injury in Sunday’s win. Ian Rapoport reported that Lattimore would miss “a couple of weeks”, which is tough news for a team that also has CBs Brian Poole and Ken Crawley on IR. They will have to depend on 2021 third-round pick Paulson Adebo (who had an INT and three tackles against GB), former Falcons 2013 first-round pick Desmond Trufant (who was signed as a free agent just six days ago), and former Falcons 2019 fifth-round pick Jordan Miller (who was a practice squad call-up after signing with the Saints a week ago). At least they will be getting their new trade acquisition and 2014 Broncos first-round pick Bradley Roby back soon, as his six-game suspension (five games from last year and one game this year) has finally ended. Additionally, they have former Packers 2019 sixth-round pick Ka’dar Hollman, former Raiders 2019 UDFA Dylan Mabin, and former Chiefs 2016 third-round pick KeiVarae Russell on the practice squad.
In 2017, Lattimore was the 11th overall pick in the draft by New Orleans. Since then, he’s had 10 interceptions and 56 passes defended, which is more than Jalen Ramsey (nine and 45, respectively). Can he take the next step and become the number one cornerback in the league?
Sources
- https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/3121421/marshon-lattimore
- https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/R/RamsJa00.htm
- https://www.spotrac.com
- https://www.fanduel.com/theduel/posts/saints-bad-news-injury-updates-key-defenders-lattimore-davenport-01fffzvj404y
- https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/contracts/cornerback/
Edited By: Rupayan “Abs” Samanta.
