Despite being almost exclusively out of the picture since Week 10 of last season, Marshon Lattimore has remained a near-constant topic of conversation.
Whether it revolved around contract restructures, trade chatter, OTA absences, rumored infighting, take your pick -- there was always noise. Lattimore said it didn't bother him, because he was and is where he wanted to be all along.
"I really don’t get into it," Lattimore said after the first day of Saints minicamp practice. "I really don’t feed into it, to be honest. I talked to DA already and we’re good, so everything else is just talk."
Saints head coach Dennis Allen revealed that the pair had that conversation earlier in the offseason to clear the air between the two. For Lattimore, any discomfort with the situation was exacerbated by his second injury in two seasons that cost him significant time. In 2022 it was a freak kidney injury. In 2023 it was a high ankle sprain suffered during a loss to the Vikings.
Allen said at the end of the season that had the Saints advanced to the playoffs -- they missed out on a pair of tiebreakers -- there was a chance for Lattimore to return. We'll never know. But what did happen was a contract restructure that was completed in such a way that could potentially facilitate a trade. From there rumors swirled, and it wasn't until reports of that conversation between star and head coach that those rumors began to die down.
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Lattimore himself said he never actually wanted a trade and didn't feel like any such conversation was needed, but that it was nonetheless productive.
“It was just we had a situation, a personal situation that we worked through," Lattimore said. "But it wasn’t like I wanted to leave or he wanted me to leave or nothing like that. … I don’t know how y’all looked at it, but it was just a situation that happened personally. It wasn’t nothing like that, like I wanted to leave. I told him I don’t want to leave.”
There was the familiar "it's a business" refrain, something that most players in trade rumors will turn to. Lattimore's said he understands a trade could still happen prior to the season, though he certainly didn't add any logs to that fire with his words this week.
He missed all three OTA sessions, but No. 23 was on the field like normal for Day 1 of mandatory minicamp. The first practice back was up and down. He was beat early on by a Derek Carr deep ball to Chris Olave, but he bounced back with a pass breakup later in 11-on-11 drills.
Allen wouldn't dive in much on his star CB's performance coming off the field.
"I think I’ll reserve judgment until I get a chance to really watch the tape," the head coach said. "I wouldn’t say that anything necessarily stood out to me one way or the other. I know he made one nice play on the boundary over there, but listen, to have both him and Alvin [Kamara] here I thought was good and we were excited about having them here.”
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Should the Saints ultimately keep Lattimore around for the 2024 season, the cornerback room would again be the biggest strength of a roster looking for a return after three years out of the playoffs. Along with Lattimore, the Saints are returning entrenched starter Paulson Adebo in a contract year, and the room is filled out with a pair of high-profile second-round picks in Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry.
Any breakup would bring to an end a partnership that helped turn the Saints from a defensive punchline to one of the top groups in the NFC since he was drafted No. 11 overall in 2017. Lattimore has started 90 games in his Saints career, logging 375 tackles, 86 passes defensed, 15 interceptions and 5 forced fumbles. He was the defensive rookie of the year and has been named to the Pro Bowl four times.
Another important stat:
- 2017-2021: 73 starts; 8 games missed
- 2022-2023: 17 starts; 17 games missed
Over the past two seasons with Lattimore's injuries that depth has been tested. But the 28-year-old says he's not concerned that it's a sign of things to come. Both injuries were freak accidents, not a sign of his body breaking down. He also made it clear how he feels, even at this point in his career, he stacks up across the NFL cornerback ranks.
"I'm No. 1," Lattimore said with a grin.
If he can prove that statement true this season, the Saints' chances of a postseason return will climb quickly.