The Saints are making a late-season move for some secondary depth. New Orleans is signing veteran defensive back DeShawn Shead, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Shead originally signed with the Seahawks as an UDFA out of Portland State in 2012, and became a member of their vaunted ‘Legion of Boom’ secondary. He started six games for them in 2015 and 15 in 2016, also winning Super Bowl XLVIII with the team. After becoming a full-time starter in 2016 he tore his ACL in the playoffs, causing him to miss almost the entire 2017 season. In March of the following year he signed a one-year, $3.5MM deal with the Lions, and he appeared in 12 games for them.
He returned to Seattle in July of this year, but couldn’t make it out of camp with the team. Shead worked out for the Saints last week, before they ultimately signed D.J. Swearinger. He’s been making the workout rounds recently, also auditioning for Detroit, Oakland, and Jacksonville over the past couple of months.
New Orleans’ secondary is pretty banged up at the moment, so the signing makes some sense. Starting safety Von Bell has been hurt, and fellow safety Marcus Williams went down during their win over Tennessee this past week. Shead can play both corner and safety, and will be a decent depth piece.
Saints cannot catch a break, injury wise.