Trey H
Yes we could’ve. Saints believed Marcus Davenport was better and that Trey was a luxury.
You do remember the insane salary cap gymnastics we had to pull just to get cap compliant that year after the COVID season which resulted in the salary cap dropping far lower than they expected, right?
We released/traded 5 starters, lost 2 more to retirement (Brees and Robinson), and then lost 3 more starters once free agency opened in addition to losing Hendrickson.
If we actually had the cap space don’t you think we would’ve been able to retain at least the ones we lost in free agency? Our “biggest” free agency signings that year from outside the organization were Nick Vannett and Tanoh Kpassagnon making $2.6M/year and $2.25M/year. But yeah, we totally had money to pay Hendrickson $15M/year.
On top of all that, we also had to franchise tag Marcus Williams and extend 2 massive contracts (Ramczyk and Lattimore) at top money for their positions as they would hit free agency the next season if not and also franchise tag Marcus Williams, who we couldn’t afford to retain the following year either. It is what it is.