Former Saints CB Apple signs with Raiders

Former Saints CB Eli Apple has found a new home in Vegas. He has agreed to terms with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Former Saints CB, Eli Apple, 24, has agreed to join the Las Vegas Raiders after spending the past year and a half in the Big Easy.  The cornerback’s departure from New Orleans is not a surprise as Apple struggled the opposite of Marshon Lattimore for most of the 2019 regular season.  The struggles forced the hand of Head Coach Sean Payton and GM Mickey Loomis into signing CB Janoris Jenkins late in the regular season after his release from the Giants.

The New York Football Giants selected Apple with the 10th pick of the 2016 NFL draft out of Ohio State, but things never panned out for in the “Big Apple”. After a fine and suspension in 2017 season for tweeting from the sideline and for conduct detrimental to the team, the end was near for Apple and his time for the Giants. The Giants traded him to New Orleans on October 23rd 2018 in exchange for a 2019 fourth round pick and a 2020 seventh round pick.

Apple’s play in the secondary, following the trade, solidified the success of a young and talented group of DB’s in New Orleans.  A group that continued to look to grow in 2019. However, for Apple, 2019 was the beginning of a long season of struggles.

Those struggles for Apple in the 2019 regular season came as a surprise to Saints fans after Apple’s outstanding play in his first 10 games as a Saint just a year prior.  For Apple, his performance never turned around leading to his departure and to his third team since the Giants drafted him in 2016.

Saints at Raiders this year. Drew Brees throwing against Eli Apple.

— John Hendrix (@JohnJHendrix) March 18, 2020

Apple will face the Saints in 2020 as New Orleans makes a trip to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders in the 2020 season. 

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