TODAY, 12:05pm: The seventh-round pick that the Commanders attached to Ridgeway is a conditional selection, according to Howard Balzer of CardsWire. In a fun twist, the pick is technically New Orleans’ 2025 seventh-round pick. The selection was originally sent to Philly in the C. J. Gardner-Johnson trade, and it was recently sent to Washington in the Jahan Dotson deal.
WEDNESDAY, 2:45pm: The Commanders made an effort to trade John Ridgeway before roster-cutdown day. Unlike many of those pursuits, a deal will come to pass after the team had set its 53-man roster.
Ridgeway is heading to the Saints in a pick-swap deal, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo report. This marks another 2022 or 2023 draftee the new regime is jettisoning. A 2022 Cowboys fifth-round pick, Ridgeway worked as rotational defensive tackle in Washington.
Washington cut five of its 2023 draftees Tuesday and has now traded two 2022 picks in the past week, with this following the Jahan Dotson deal. Even though Ridgeway came from the Cowboys, Dan Quinn‘s team is moving on from a player the Ron Rivera regime initially added. Ridgeway arrived in Dallas during Quinn’s second year as Cowboys DC; the veteran coach has since signed off on moving on twice in three years.
This will be a classic pick-swap agreement, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter adding the Saints are sending the Commanders a 2025 sixth-round pick for Ridgeway and a ’25 seventh. Two years remain on Ridgeway’s rookie contract, which Washington initially claimed in September 2022.
Ridgeway, 25, played a career-high 356 defensive snaps last season. While the Commanders had extra work to go around at D-end during the second half of last season (after trading Chase Young and Montez Sweat), they had less playing time to give out at DT. Ridgeway nevertheless earned a spot operating behind Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne. Pro Football Focus was still not impressed, ranking the Illinois State alum as a bottom-10 D-tackle (among regulars) last season.
The Saints return 2023 free agency additions Khalen Saunders and Nathan Shepherd at D-tackle, with 2023 first-round pick Bryan Bresee and rookie sixth-rounder Khristian Boyd rounding out the group. New Orleans also rookie UDFA DT Sincere Haynesworth on IR last week.
The last sentence in this article is wrong for several reasons.