Hindsight is fun. But Zack Baun is excelling in a role that Demario Davis has exceptionally occupied for 7 years with the Saints. There wasn’t much future off ball snaps for Baun with 2 full time LBs ahead of him. He isn’t excelling as a full time pass rusher in Philly like we wanted him to be after 2023 but as the leader of Philly’s LB unit. Saints developed Baun into becoming a very good LB when he was an exclusive pass rusher coming out of Wisconsin.
I think there's a reasonable debate that could be had as to whether the Saints should have let Demario go 'too early' in order to keep Baun, but I think the combination of play/leadership/cap impact of doing so probably settles that one.