There’s a lot of buzz connecting the New Orleans Saints to Clemson Tigers defensive end Myles Murphy, with several prominent draft analysts projecting Murphy to end up in black and gold by the end of Thursday night’s first round.
One of those experts is ESPN’s Todd McShay, who linked the Saints to Murphy in his final mock draft. Here’s his justification for the pick at No. 29:
The Saints were last in pass rush win rate in 2022 (28.5%) and lost Marcus Davenport in free agency. Cameron Jordan had 8.5 sacks last season, but he’s turning 34 years old in July. So it’s definitely time to restock the pass rush. Murphy is a big, long force off the edge who wins with his great take-off quickness.
Murphy is an impressive prospect at 6-foot-4 and 271 pounds with long 33.7-inch arms (plus a 9.71 Relative Athletic Score), but more important than his measurables is his play on the field: he started 27 of his 38 career games at Clemson, racking up 37 tackles for loss and 17.5 sacks, with 6 forced fumbles and pass breakups. He’s a reliable, starting-quality player who can continue to improve as he develops a wider array of pass-rush techniques to shed blockers and get after quarterbacks.
He’s also a better prospect than both Payton Turner and Marcus Davenport were when the Saints picked them coming out of school, arriving with less of an injury history and more proven production. With that said, he’s not perfect, and he left a lot of meat on the bone in college. He should have had a bigger impact on passing downs given his talent. Hopefully the Saints (or whichever team he ends up with) can better tap into that in the NFL.
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