The 2021 NFL trade deadline is right around the corner and there have already been a plethora of projected deals that the Detroit Lions could make to add some depth to their roster.
One of those deals was suggested by Ben Solak of The Ringer and it includes the Lions landing a former 1st Round pick for next to nothing.
Solak suggests that a trade he would like to see happen is the Miami Dolphins sending CB Noah Igbinoghene to the Lions in exchange for a 2021 seventh-round pick.
Here is Solak’s rationale for the trade.
Miami Dolphins CB Noah Igbinoghene to the Detroit Lions
Miami receives: 2021 seventh-round pick
Detroit receives: CB Noah Igbinoghene
An important tradition during the trade deadline is finding new homes for young, struggling players who have fallen out of favor with their coaching staff. Such was the move for players like Desmond King II (Chargers to Titans in 2020), Austin Corbett (Browns to Rams in 2019), Leonard Williams (Jets to Giants in 2019), and Eli Apple (Giants to Saints in 2018). I’d like to dump Noah Igbinoghene onto that train.
A first-round draft pick in 2020 for the Dolphins, Igbinoghene had a tricky path to playing time: Byron Jones and Xavien Howard already had the outside jobs locked down, while incumbent slot covermen Nik Needham and Jamal Perry weren’t going to give up his job easily. Igbinoghene largely played on the outside in relief of Jones and Howard in his first season and was picked on mercilessly as an inexperienced cornerback (at Auburn he transitioned from wide receiver during his freshman year). Igbinoghene never really broke the depth chart through 2020 and into 2021, where he has been a healthy scratch in four of the Dolphins’ first six games. He got his first significant action in Week 6 against the Jaguars, but was unavailable in Week 7 against the Falcons due to a knee injury.
Speaking of cornerback injuries, it’s been a tough spell in Detroit, where young cornerbacks Jeff Okudah, Ifeatu Melifonwu, and A.J. Parker have all gone down with injury at some point this season. Okudah is out for the year, Melifonwu is “a little ways away,” and Parker was only recently injured—but suffice to say, the Lions are scraping the bottom of the barrel for cornerback play. At 0-7 in the first year of a rebuild, why not trade for a former first-round pick who has seemingly missed his window in Miami? Passing-game coordinator and defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant is viewed as a rising star among defensive coaches and a developer of cornerbacks considering his work in Los Angeles with Darious Williams and Troy Hill. Let him work with Igbinoghene’s impressive athleticism and see whether he can reignite the young man’s career.
Nation, would you like to see this trade go down?
