SmashMouth

By unloading one of the NFL's top offensive players, the New Orleans Saints freed up resources to improve their struggling defense, general manager Mickey Loomis said Tuesday night.

The Saints traded tight end Jimmy Graham and a fourth-round draft pick to the Seattle Seahawks for center Max Unger and their first-round pick.

"We've got to improve ourselves on defense," Loomis said in an interview with SiriusXM NFL. "There are three ways to get players in our league. That's through free agency, it's through the draft, and then trades. We believe in using all avenues."

Loomis said the Saints took "one of our assets on offense," which was ranked No. 1 in the NFL in 2014, and will plow the freed up resources into improving the 31st-ranked defense.

"It was a tough decision," Loomis said. "We love Jimmy Graham. He's been a great player for us. In order to improve ourselves we felt we had to make a bold move, and so we did."

The Saints now have the No. 13 and No. 31 overall picks in the NFL Draft, and Loomis didn't rule out combining the two picks to trade up to a higher spot.

"There may be an opportunity to move up," Loomis said. "We did that last year to get Brandin Cooks. ... If that happens again this year, we're more than willing to do that."

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