NFL Free Agency: 3 free agents that could replace Marshon Lattimore

First, Marshon Lattimore is irreplaceable. If he were an easily replaceable corner-back, the New Orleans Saints would not have given him a mega-deal that could max out $100 million.

Second, based on what the Saints announced, Lattimore's injury is not so serious. Otherwise, the team would have placed the CB on the injured reserve list and not put him on a week-to-week status.

However, as the NFL quickly progresses to a quarterback's game, rather than the traditional old focus on the running game, losing your top CB for a few weeks can be a massive problem. The Saints should take a look at the free-agent list, and here are their best options to temporarily replace Lattimore.

#Saints Pro Bowl CB Marshon Lattimore is having surgery today to repair a chipped bone in his thumb, source says, and the injury he suffered on Sunday makes him week-to-week. Lattimore agreed to his five-year, nearly $100M deal before the game.

Marshon Lattimore substitute's

#1 Darqueze Dennard

Dennard was a first-round 24th pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Dennard spent his first six years in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals and played the 2020 NFL season with the Atlanta Falcons.

His career year was 2017. He played all 16 games that season and had 84 total tackles (60 solo and 24 assisted), two sacks, six pass deflections, two interceptions, and one defensive touchdown.

Throughout his career, Dennard played 85 games. His career stats include:

305 tackles (223 solo and 82 assisted)
3 sacks
27 pass deflections
4 interceptions
1 defensive touchdown
2 forced fumbles.

Dennard is an option to replace Dennard because of his high number of tackles, which is important to the Saints defense, as you can see in the tweet below, where Lattimore gets a huge stop and almost forced a fumble.

This was one of the easiest challenges in Sean Payton’s career. Didn’t notice in real-time, but Marshon Lattimore’s hit almost forced a fumble.

Huge play for the Saints. Now with the ball in Packers territory tied 27-27. https://t.co/5s8b55m1xu

#2 Quinton Dunbar

Dunbar is an undrafted free agent who played for the Washington Football Team from 2015 to 2019. Last year, he played for the Seattle Seahawks.

In terms of games played, Dunbar's best season was 2017. That year, he played 15 games.

When talking about the stats, Dunbar's career year was 2019. He had 35 tackles (29 solo and six assisted), eight pass deflections, and four interceptions that year.

Throughout his career, Dubar played 64 games. His career stats include:

169 tackles (147 solo and 22 assisted)
1 sack
40 pass deflections
10 interceptions.

Dunbar is an option to replace Lattimore because of his high number of interceptions. Today, he is a free agent because of his injury-prone status, but as a replacement for a couple of games, that does not matter.

#3 Gareon Conley

Conley is a first-round 24th pick, like Dennard, but in the 2017 draft.

He played a year and a half for the Las Vegas Raiders and spent the same amount of time with the Houston Texans.

Conley's career game came against the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL Divisional Round game. He recorded five tackles and sacked Patrick Mahomes once. Unfortunately, his efforts were not enough, and his Texans lost the game to the Chiefs.

Throughout his career, Conley played 31 games. His career stats include:

91 tackles (62 solo and 29 assisted)
29 pass deflections
4 interceptions
1 defensive touchdown.

Conley is an appealing option to replace Lattimore because of his age. Conley could help the Saints secondary not only for a couple of games but for a couple of seasons due to him being only 26 years old.