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The New Orleans Saints hit a series of home runs in the 2017 NFL Draft, landing instant upgrades at key positions like cornerback (with Marshon Lattimore), offensive tackle (in Ryan Ramczyk), free safety (Marcus Williams), and running back (Alvin Kamara). That sudden influx of young, high-end talent reshaped a roster that had gone 7-9 three years in a row into a squad that’s won 13 games in each of the last two seasons.
However, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked just one other team ahead of them in reflection on that year’s crop of college prospects: the Kansas City Chiefs, who bagged Patrick Mahomes one slot ahead of the Saints. Mahomes, of course, was the player Saints coach Sean Payton famously coveted the most and could have (would have, and maybe should have) transitioned to from Drew Brees.
But let’s not lose sight of the positives here. Brugler had to dig all the way into the sixth round to find a swing-and-a-miss for the Saints in 2017, and that year’s final draft pick, Al-Quadin Muhammad, has earned his spot in the Indianapolis Colts lineup. Muhammad has logged 400-plus snaps in both of the last two years, racking up 13 tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hits, and 3 sacks. The Saints were simply too stacked for him to hang around.
The challenge now, of course, is paying all of these big names now that their rookie contracts are expiring. The Saints bought themselves some time by triggering the fifth-year options for Lattimore and Ramczyk as soon as NFL rules allowed them to, tying them to the team through 2021. But Kamara and Williams should each end up ranking among the top earners at their respective positions. Will the Saints be the ones to pay them?
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