The Patriots are trading second-year wideout Ja’Lynn Polk and a 2028 seventh-round pick to the Saints for a 2027 sixth-round pick, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini.
Polk suffered a shoulder injury during the preseason and was placed on season-ending injured reserve during final roster cuts. He still won’t suit up this year, so New Orleans is betting on his ability to recover and live up to his draft billing in 2026 and beyond.
The Saints were interested in Polk during the 2024 draft, per Jeff Duncan and Luke Johnson of The Times-Picayune, but he was taken by the Patriots at No. 37, four picks before New Orleans was on the clock. (The Saints ended up using their second-rounder on cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry.)
The 23-year-old disappointed as a rookie, reeling in only 12 of his 37 targets for 87 yards and two touchdowns. He was thought to be on the roster bubble entering training camp after New England revamped their receiver room this offseason. His shoulder surgery pre-empted a release, but the Patriots still found a way to move on when the Saints came calling.
Per OverTheCap, the Patriots trading Polk will leave $2.9MM in dead money, which can be spread across the team’s 2025 and 2026 salary caps. That assumes that the Saints pick up the entirety of his remaining salary, worth just under $5MM over the next three years. 2025 and 2026 are fully guaranteed, while $637k of Polk’s $2.11MM salary in 2027 is guaranteed.
In terms of both finances and draft capital, acquiring Polk is a low-cost move by the Saints, though it does not come without risk. The first two year of his NFL career have essentially been a wash, and he’ll be coming off shoulder surgery entering his third.
Polk is now the second receiver from the 2024 draft class that New Orleans has added in the last month. In August, they sent two Day 3 picks to the Broncos in exchange for former seventh-round pick Devaughn Vele. Neither move seems to be about upgrading their offense this year. Instead, they’re further indicators – along with the team’s plan to start Spencer Rattler for as long as possible – that the team has finally decided to undergo a rebuild, per Nick Underhill of New Orleans.Football.
The Patriots, meanwhile, have jettisoned yet another player from their 2024 draft class under new head coach Mike Vrabel. First-round quarterback Drake Maye and third-round offensive lineman Caedan Wallace are the only remaining selections on the roster, (h/t Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald). While Maye seems to be the future of the team, Wallace spent part of his rookie year on IR and could only carve out a backup guard role entering this season.
That is definently gonna help the saints WR room. Great pickup
Reasonable flyer to take for about the smallest price possible.
The bigger story is how terrible of a draft pick he was for patriots at 37
Or would have been for the Saints 3 picks later…
Lmao
Smart business. He has solid college tape and maybe a change of scheme QB and culture will help him. Win win
His tape was against weak competition. He’s going to have to adjust to playing against legit corners in the NFL because he sure didn’t in college.
Still good tape
Fire Eliott Wolff.
Trading out of the McConkey spot for this guy is just terrible. It doesnt sound like he is even in charge any more. He should just be fired and let him have an opportunity somewhere else. Inexcusable draft trade. Nobody had Polk ranked ahead of Ladd.
The entirety of this year has been booting out all of Wolfs crappy roster moves and draft picks. Crazy that he still has a job
He has to have something on the team.
Polk, “best hands in the NFL”. Oh darn, dropped my coffee, see ya!
Hard to rebuild without picks. These aren’t headliner moves, but New Orleans needs more options, not fewer ones. At least New Orleans got a pick back, and they definitely need the depth and options in the room, but unless there’s clear upgrade, I think I like holding them.
At least Vele and Polk have the bodies to be outside guys, so there’s a skill set that they’re getting if all goes according to plan. In a vacuum, this isn’t a bad move, but considering New Orleans’ position, I’d probably have kept the picks here. If suppose they see Polk as being at least on the level of a sixth round player value-wise, but the downside is that Polk has much less trade value if the Saints wanted to move up, versus a pick.
That’s the quickest I’ve seen a former second round pick at receiver get duped off since Dorial Green-Beckham. I feel sorry for anybody in the card community that super collecting his cards, they probably just lost hundreds of dollars in value in their collection in a single day.