Saints quietly make late-night trade with 49ers for ex-Raiders fourth-round RB

Saints quietly make late-night trade with 49ers for ex-Raiders fourth-round RB originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The New Orleans Saints made some huge upgrades to the roster this offseason, one of those being the big free-agent signing of Travis Etienne Jr.

He's now the starter, and Alvin Kamara is the RB2, with Keandre Miller the third-string RB. But after adding Etienne, this room got a bit crowded. And yet, the Saints reportedly added another back late on Sunday night.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Saints traded linebacker Deion Jones to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for Zamir White. This is an interesting addition for the Saints, as it might reveal where a few of their injured tailbacks stand.

"Trade: the Saints are sending veteran LB Deion Jones to San Francisco in exchange for RB Zamir White, per sources," Schefter reports.

White isn't a high-impact running back, rushing for 736 yards and two touchdowns on 198 attempts in four seasons with the Raiders since 2022.

Last season, he carried the ball just 12 times for 32 yards. He wasn't much of a factor at all in the Raiders' offense. He joined the 49ers as depth and has now been traded to the Saints.

But with a fairly strong RB room behind Etienne, with Kamara, Miller, Devin Neal, Audric Estime, Ty Chandler, and CJ Donaldson, why did the Saints trade for an RB?

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Well, Kamara has an MCL sprain and will miss at least a month and is not going to be ready for the start of the regular season. Neal is also banged up, dealing with a hamstring injury. He could miss some time as well.

Estime has an ankle injury and is going to miss some time due to this injury. So, all of Kamara, Neal, and Estime will miss time this August and into September.

That means, behind Etienne, the Saints only have Miller, Chandler, and Donaldson. Adding another running back for the preseason finale isn't a bad idea.

White might not make the 53-man roster unless one of these injuries proves to be season-ending. But even if it's just for one game during the preseason, moving on from White, who wasn't going to make the roster anyway, isn't a bad idea for New Orleans.

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