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So that stings. The New Orleans Saints waited to add a wide receiver until the seventh round at pick No. 255 in the 2021 NFL draft, adding South Alabama prospect Kawaan Baker, but they might have been able to address the position much sooner if things had shaken out differently. This report comes from Panthers.com’s Darin Gantt, who shared a nugget about the Saints following an active weekend in Carolina’s draft war room:
“(BYU left tackle Brady Christensen) was probably going to be the guy at 59, and there was a deal cooking that could have moved them back on the clock within a few spots to take LSU wide receiver Terrace Marshall Jr.. Marshall was quickly becoming one of those guys whose name was beginning to stick out on the board, with not much space above him, but a lot of space below at his position. He was becoming a value guy. Then someone got a call that the Saints were about to take Marshall 60th overall, and the Panthers shifted gears, taking Marshall in the 59th spot instead.”
So now Marshall will be lining up against the Saints twice a year in Joe Brady’s offense for the Panthers. The 6-foot-2, 205 pounder has great foot speed (timing the 40 yard dash in 4.4 seconds flat at LSU’s pro day) and put it to good use in college, where he averaged 15 yards per catch in his career. He also caught a personal-best 13 touchdown passes in 2019 with Brady calling plays for the Tigers.
He would have been an exciting addition to the receiving corps with Michael Thomas and Tre’Quan Smith. Instead, the Saints stood pat at No. 60 and selected the best player on their board in Ohio State linebacker Pete Werner, a heady prospect with plenty of quality snaps already behind him. Werner needs to better apply his timed athleticism when he’s wearing pads and a helmet, but he’s an upgrade to the weakside linebacker spot after the Saints lost Kwon Alexander to an Achilles injury and subsequent salary cap cut.
It’s frustrating to see another first-round prospect the Saints coveted land with another squad. They’ve been leapfrogged in past years for players like Patrick Mahomes and Kenneth Murray, who were both snagged one pick ahead of the Saints during draft-day trades up the board. Whether New Orleans isn’t guarding information well themselves or if players’ agents are putting information out there (as one of Sean Payton’s representative’s did in 2016, to ensure his client David Onyemata was picked by the Saints in a trade), it’s becoming a problem. Here’s hoping they patch that leak.
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