News on Chris Ivory has been incredibly scarce this season. He was active for the first time last Sunday against the Chargers but didn’t get a single snap during the game. In an interview with Larry Holder last month, Ivory told the reporter that he was frustrated but trying to stay patient with the lack of playing time. While the Saints have been unlucky on the injury front, running back hasn’t been a position affected at all and so Ivory has been shut out of any chance at playing. This despite Mark Ingram’s major struggles all season long. It seems clear to me that Ivory has fallen out of favor with the staff and his presence is only an insurance policy in case of injury. As the season progresses, the running backs stay healthy and the trade deadline approaches, though, you have to start wondering if the Saints could ship out a talented player for some sort of return.
Ivory is a restricted free agent after the season, so the Saints can still retain his rights. The Saints’ cap situation is so bad, though, that if another team signed him to a reasonable long term deal there is almost zero chance the Saints would match. And since he was an undrafted rookie free agent, the Saints would get nothing in return for him. So if they want to get talent back, the opportunity to do that is to trade him before the trade deadline which is the Tuesday following week 8. At this point, the only way the Saints shouldn’t trade him is if they suffer an injury to Pierre Thomas or Mark Ingram before week 8. If both players are healthy when the team comes up to the deadline, then it’s time to roll the dice and make the trade because Ivory is not helping the team.
There’s been talk of the Cardinals, Lions and Packers approaching the Saints in the last few weeks about Ivory’s availability and this article was posted just yesterday suggesting he’s on the trading block. So #29’s time with the Saints could be very limited. Do you see the Saints shipping him out in the next few weeks?
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
