Round 4

We’d like to add a cornerback soon, but the value hasn’t been acceptable so far. And really that’s more of an ancillary roster need than a must-have; no rookie is going to start over Marshon Lattimore and Janoris Jenkins, and there’s a crowd of veterans backing them up. In this simulation, we’re going to wait it out and see who might be available later on.

However, there was a nice opportunity to solidify the offensive backfield. Alvin Kamara is entering a contract year, and it’s no sure thing that the Saints will be keeping him around long-term (he’s certainly eyeing Christian McCaffrey’s $16 million per-year deal). Latavius Murray is a fine number-two running back, but he’s already 30. A longer-term investment might be warranted here.

As luck would have it, two highly-rated running back prospects were available early in the fourth round: Florida State’s Cam Akers and UCLA’s Joshua Kelley. Akers is commonly ranked among the top five runners in this draft class (he’s third-best on our big board, behind Jonathan Taylor and Clyde Edwards-Helaire) thanks to his solid college production and impressive athleticism. He led Florida State in rushing all three years in Tallahassee, and posted an unreal 10-yard split of 1.47 seconds (at 217 pounds). He’s also well-versed in pass protection and caught 30 passes last season. We ranked him the 47th-best prospect for the Saints.

Kelley would be a smart pick, too. He bet on himself by transferring to UCLA from UC-Davis and gave the Bruins someone to build around, leading the team in rushing yards each of the last two years while scoring 25 combined touchdowns in 22 games. However, he’s not the same caliber of athlete as Akers, and is graded slightly lower as our 51st option.

But neither of them were a sure thing to stick around at No. 135 (we moved back a few spots in the earlier big trade up with Pittsburgh, remember). We attempted several trades up and finally reached an agreement with the Denver Broncos, who accepted a move down from No. 118 in exchange for No. 135 and next year’s fourth-round pick.

Both running backs were still available, so we went with the higher-rated option in Akers (Kelley was immediately picked afterwards, for what it’s worth). This move might signal the end of Kamara’s Saints career, depending on how his contract negotiations wind down, but it’s also possible that Murray’s effectiveness begins trailing off after six bruising years in the NFL. Having Akers around as someone who can form a new tag-team tandem with either Kamara or Murray in the future or continue to handle a three-down workload as the offense’s featured back.

The pick: RB Cam Akers, Florida State

Round 5

There weren’t many prospects that caught our eye early in this round, and that’ll probably be the case at each of the final day’s picks. Grades are so even here that many players could be picked as easily as fall into undrafted free agency.

So we stood pat at No. 169, and were rewarded with the following cluster of options (big board rankings in parentheses):

• CB Harrison Hand, Temple (87)
• S J.R. Reed, Georgia (89)
• S Alohi Gilman, Notre Dame (104)

No other prospects were ranked higher than Gilman, so we stuck with the three best options. Hand is an average athlete from a height-weight-speed perspective, playing at his best in zone coverage where he’s allowed to keep the play in front of him and trust his instincts. He’d be a candidate to back up Lattimore or Jenkins, though we shouldn’t hope to see much of him as a rookie.

Both Reed and Gilman figure to see more action on special teams than on defense. While Reed has a stronger resume than Gilman, he’s also one of the older players in this draft class and might have less room to grow and develop. Either of them would be a fine pickup at this stage in the process, but we’ll go with Hand due to his better fit and positional  scarcity.

The pick: CB Harrison Hand, Temple

Round 6

Slim pickings again. There aren’t any instant-upgrades available this late in the game; every prospect from here on out will have to compete hard just to make the roster. We tried trading down with a few teams in a bid to add a pick in next year’s draft, but the best offer we received came from the Dallas Cowboys in a move down from No. 203 to 231, possibly netting a seventh-round pick in 2021.

That’s not worth more than Louisiana guard Kevin Dotson, who we graded as a fifth-round value. He can push Will Clapp to become the eighth active lineman on game days, though neither of them figures to play often behind starting guards Larry Warford and Andrus Peat, and first-man-up Nick Easton. But Warford is in the final year of his contract and could get moved himself for a 2021 draft pick if the Saints don’t think he should be re-signed, so you can’t have enough depth.

The pick: G Kevin Dotson, Louisiana

Round 7

There were a few quarterbacks we considered trading next year’s seventh rounder for to grab at the end of the draft, including Michigan’s Shea Patterson and Hawaii’s Cole McDonald. But honestly either of them could be had in undrafted free agency (as could similar prospects like Mason Fine out of North Texas) so we were content to let things end quietly. The Saints traded their original 2020 seventh rounder to help acquire cornerback Eli Apple, who hasn’t signed with a team after nixing his deal with the Raiders; depending on when he joins a new squad, and at what salary, the Saints could recoup another compensatory pick in 2021.

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