Tag: options

Top remaining Saints team needs after 2021 NFL draft

The New Orleans Saints plugged most of the holes on their roster in the 2021 NFL draft, but they could still use upgrades on defense and at QB.

The New Orleans Saints could compete with any team in the NFL with the roster they’ve put together. They’re approaching the 90-man roster limit after the draft and after the initial waves of free agency, but they still have room to improve. So where should they start now that their 2022 compensatory draft picks are protected? Let’s dig in.

2022 NFL comp picks deadline is near, clearing the next Saints offseason hurdle

The New Orleans Saints are will clear the next hurdle of their offseason with protections for 2022 NFL draft compensatory picks in place.

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The ink is still setting on the 2021 NFL draft picks but eyes are already looking towards 2022. And the Saints expect to be bigger players in next year’s draft than they were in the latest cycle, owing to their full compliment of picks plus a few compensatory selections. And with the NFL’s calendar continuing to move along, veteran free agents can be signed without impacting the comp pick formula beginning 3 p.m. CT on Monday, May 3.

That’s big news for New Orleans. The Saints have already locked in a comp pick next year for personnel executive Terry Fontenot (a third rounder), and Over The Cap’s experts project them to receive two more selections for defensive end Trey Hendrickson (fourth round) and interior rusher Sheldon Rankins (sixth round). We won’t know the exact placements until the NFL announces them next spring, but if all goes as expected the Saints could go into the 2022 draft with six picks in the first four rounds.

It clears another hurdle for the Saints’ offseason plan. They do need to make other moves to free up salary cap space so they can go sign more players — after adding 17 rookies between their draft class and undrafted free agent signings, they’ve filled 79 of 90 offseason roster spots — and that can be done with long-term extensions for highly-paid veterans like Ryan Ramczyk ($11 million cap hit), Marcus Williams $10.6 million), and Marshon Lattimore ($10.2 million). Here’s hoping one or two of those deals can be worked out soon.

As for which players the Saints could target after their 2022 comp picks are protected: Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman didn’t sound optimistic about a fit in New Orleans after the team traded up to Paulson Adebo in the third round, though he should be an option; other veteran corners still unsigned include ex-Charger Casey Heyward and former Steeler Steven Nelson. The Saints could also bring back Ken Crawley.

Keep an eye on other position groups, too. Receivers waiting for calls range from Golden Tate and Danny Amendola to Damiere Byrd and Dede Westbrook. They’re on the older side, but the Saints could use a defensive tackle with NFL experience like Geno Atkins, Kawann Short, Jurrell Casey, or Sheldon Richardson. Big-money deals have dried up across the board, so some veteran players are going to have to sign for beneath their market value just to continue playing in 2021.

The Saints still have some boxes to check off as their retool their roster ahead of training camp later this summer. They also have more hurdles to clear before they can do that. But it’s good to see they have options.

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Updated Saints draft needs going into Day 3 of 2021 draft

The New Orleans Saints addressed their two most important needs early in the 2021 NFL draft, but they could still use more help at receiver.

The New Orleans Saints addressed their two most important needs on the  second day of the 2021 NFL draft, but they could still use more help at a few other positions. After reinforcing their defensive line with Houston’s Payton Turner in the first round, they brought in a starting linebacker in Ohio State’s Pete Werner and an electrifying cornerback with Stanford’s Paulson Adebo. So where should they go next? Let’s update their positional needs:

What do Saints draft tendencies forecast for their Day 2 picks?

The New Orleans Saints do not lack for options on Day 2 of the 2021 NFL draft, having established trends and athletic prototypes.

The New Orleans Saints stayed true to prototype and bolstered their trenches by selecting the Houston defensive end Payton Turner with the 28th overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft. Initially unpopular (and unpredicted) among Saints fans, the 6-foot-6 and 270 pounds prospect is exactly the type of player New Orleans has a history of selecting in the first round.

The decision to select Turner is also highly indicative of a hesitance to stray from prototype in a year lacking in film and proper measurables. Moreover, the team’s first selection in every draft since 2015 has either been a defensive or offensive lineman; this year proved no different. Notably, Turner’s Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 9.74 reinforces a notion detailed by NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill: football intelligence is paramount. The Saints are drawn to prospects with RAS scores of 9.00 or higher.

Another compelling trend to analyze as we turn to Round 2 is the team’s propensity to select players out of the Big Ten and SEC conferences. Out of the 28 players drafted by the Saints since 2016, 14 of these players came from these conferences. Let’s see if an analysis of these trends helps shape the predictions for the team’s selections in Round 2 of the draft.

25 most likely options for Packers in first round of 2021 draft

Breaking down the most likely candidates to be the Packers’ first pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

The Green Bay Packers hold the 29th overall pick in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft. Guessing which prospect general manager Brian Gutekunst will pick at the end of the first round is a difficult exercise given all the variables in play.

Also, Gutekunst could be active moving up or down the board on Thursday night, further complicating who could be available to the Packers when they make their first pick.

By eliminating expected top-20 picks and looking into a combination of talent, athleticism and fit while also considering the Packers’ recent draft history, a list of potential first-round options can form.

Here’s a 25-player list of the most likely options for the Packers in the first round by position, ordered by our ranking of the team’s needs:

Which players should be in the Saints’ cloud at the 28th pick?

The New Orleans Saints are known for building a cloud of prospects at each pick in the draft, and they have plenty of options in 2021.

There’s no consensus on what the New Orleans Saints will do with their first-round pick as the 2021 NFL draft quickly approaches. Unprecedented salary cap constraints precluded them from retaining key talent; those vacant roster spots are now glaring positions of need. And there are so many holes that everyone has a different take on where to start first.

New Orleans may have eyes on an early target, but it’s about finding the best player available for the Saints — not best player on the board or at a position of need. It’s a tough balancing act, but New Orleans is particularly adept at striking it. The main factors are prototype guidelines per position with exceptions for special traits, football intelligence, and character.

A look back at the team’s 2020 draft might help forecast this year’s strategy. The loss of minicamps and preseason games saw New Orleans hone in on mentally sharp rookies, valuing quality over quantity; they can’t fully ignore positional need, but shouldn’t . Particularly with sparse film, if any, from the 2020 season; just as last year, they are hindered by the loss of the scouting combine to assess certain measurables.

Weighing this all together, the positional needs rank as follows: cornerback, linebacker, and wide receiver. How players rank within those positions will be the deciding factor at No. 28 (unless the Saints choose to trade up, of course). Let’s survey players in the Saints first-round cloud and rank prospects accordingly. To get an idea of who may be available, I ran 20 mock draft simulators on several sites, tallying each prospect’s availability below. And then I filtered our options down even further.

Cornerback

  • Caleb Farley, Virginia Tech (9)
  • Greg Newsome, Northwestern (6)

Linebacker

  • Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Notre Dame (3)
  • Zaven Collins, Tulsa (9)
  • Jabril Cox, LSU (20)

Wide Receiver

  • Terrace Marshall Jr., Purdue (17)
  • Rondale Moore, Purdue (17)
  • Elijah Moore, Mississippi (17)
  • Kadarius Toney, Florida (16)

Wild Cards:

  • S Trevon Moehrig, TCU (8)
  • RB Travis Ettienne, Clemson (14)
  • OT Teven Jenkins (13)

Titans TE Jonnu Smith headlines 6 underrated free agents Saints should target

Strapped for salary cap space, the New Orleans Saints should prioritize underrated free agents like TE Jonnu Smith and DE Tyus Bowser.

It’s going to be hard for the New Orleans Saints to make many splashes in free agency this year. With a depressed salary cap and plenty of their own players to worry about re-signing, this could be another year where they work hard to retain their own key players (like free safety Marcus Williams, who received the franchise tag) while taking a selective approach to the market, adding some middle-class upgrades here and there (as they did with Malcolm Jenkins and Emmanuel Sanders) and angling to receive some comp picks in 2022.

But that doesn’t mean New Orleans won’t be active at all. There will be some underrated names available at positions of need, and the Saints would be smart to chase them. Here are six free agents who could provide big help at a bargain:

2021 QB carousel could bring the Saints just what they need

The New Orleans Saints could find their new franchise quarterback in 2021, whether it’s Matthew Stafford, Deshaun Watson, or someone else.

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Who starts at quarterback for the New Orleans Saints in 2021? They have three passers under contract in Drew Brees, Taysom Hill, and Trevor Siemian (who finished the 2020 season on the practice squad), but Brees is expected to announce his retirement and begin a career in the NBC broadcast booth.

The Saints went 3-1 with Hill starting in Brees’ place. Jameis Winston showed the coaching staff plenty to like in a year of practice, but he’s an unrestricted free agent. And this year’s quarterbacks carousel is taking quite a spin.

It’s a solid free agent class in its own right, with quarterbacks like Dak Prescott (a franchise tag candidate returning from a serious ankle injury) and Cam Newton, and veteran backups like Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andy Dalton, Tyrod Taylor, Jacoby Brissett, and Mitchell Trubisky all joining Winston on the open market.

But the real interest lies in trade candidates. Deshaun Watson, the young face of the franchise for the Houston Texans, is the biggest name on the outs with his old team. Matthew Stafford isn’t interested in another Detroit Lions rebuild and has already agreed to part ways with them. It seems all but certain Sam Darnold will be shipped out of town by the New York Jets as they throw another highly-drafted rookie into the grinder. The San Francisco 49ers might be looking to upgrade from Jimmy Garoppolo. And Aaron Rodgers could request a trade after another frustrating postseason loss with the Green Bay Packers, who already picked his replacement in the 2020 NFL draft.

Some of those veterans on the trade block, like Watson and Garoppolo, have more agency than others. They can choose to waive the no-trade clause in their contracts after surveying the market and picking a destination. What effect that may have on trade compensation is uncertain, but it’s not nothing.

And it’s anyone’s guess how this year’s draft shakes out. Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields are virtual locks to be picked first and second overall, but things aren’t as clear for Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Mac Jones, and the other passers ranked behind them. If nothing else is clear about this, it’s that the Saints have plenty of options.

The most realistic path forwards is probably re-signing Winston and having him compete with Hill in training camp. Both quarterbacks know the system and are known by the coaching staff, which is in flux with so many assistants leaving for new opportunities (including quarterbacks coach Joe Lombardi). But with that said, it’s worth remembering that Saints coach Sean Payton is a big believer in hunting big game in the offseason.

So much so that Tom Brady could have landed in New Orleans last year, not Tampa Bay. Had Brees not returned for another title run, there was enough mutual interest between Brady and the Saints to get a deal done and go from one G.O.A.T. to another. But Brees came back for 2020, Brady settled in as a division rival, and the rest is history.

Sure, the Saints are in a tight spot where the salary cap is concerned. It isn’t an impossible scenario to get out of, even if they’ll have to make some tough decisions along the way (Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football broke it down thoroughly). Their accounting team knows more about how to make those numbers work than anyone reading this probably does. Don’t think of it as too big of an obstacle to overcome.

The end point of all of this: the Saints have the resources to go get a blue-chip quarterback, one way or another. They’re an attractive destination with a winning culture and popular head coach, and one of just two teams that can boast they’ve reached the postseason in each of the last four years (along with the Kansas City Chiefs). The Saints will have opportunities to steady the ship and find a franchise quarterback after Brees has retired, even if the transition isn’t as smooth as many fans might hope for.

And if nothing else, they’ve already proven they can win with both Winston and Hill. Maybe the best plan would be to put them against each other head-to-head this summer and see if the victor has what it takes to hold down the job for the next decade.

4 realistic 11th-hour Saints trade targets before NFL deadline

The New Orleans Saints are rapidly approaching the 2020 NFL trade deadline having made one big move, but there is still room for more.

Could the New Orleans Saints make another move before the NFL trade deadline? They already acquired San Francisco 49ers linebacker Kwon Alexander, but a bigger shakeup doesn’t feel likely.

One popular target has been New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore, and while he would add a lot to the Saints secondary, they may not be willing to pay the reported asking price of a first-round pick and player in exchange for him.

So here are four more realistic options to keep an eye out for in the hours ahead. They may not move the needle as strongly, but these are the sort of band-aids that could help the Saints sustain success by fixing a number of smaller problems.

Rumor: Saints working to get a draft pick early in the second round

The New Orleans Saints are exploring options with possible trade partners slotted to pick high in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

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The New Orleans Saints aren’t finished upending fans’ expectations. Having selected Michigan interior offensive lineman Cesar Ruiz in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, they’re now working to make a bold move up the board.

Per a report from the MMQB’s Albert Breer, the Saints are targeting a draft slot “near the top of the second round.” That would put them in position to select one of the top prospects at linebacker, wide receiver, or cornerback, but we really can’t rule anything out (except maybe punter, kicker, and long-snapper).

The difficulty arises from New Orleans lacking a second-round pick in this year’s draft, having traded it already to move up for Erik McCoy in 2019. Their next pick isn’t until No. 88 overall, so the Saints might have to dive into their war chest of 2021 draft picks. They could also trade a veteran player.

And that would follow a precedent. The Saints have often traded next-year selections to make moves in the present, maneuvering the draft board to acquire prospects they value highly. Don’t be shocked if they go back to one of their common trade partners like the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, or Philadelphia Eagles, though it’s worth noting that the Baltimore Ravens are a team with four picks in rounds two and three.

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