Tag: prospect

Saints trade back into the seventh round, pick QB Tommy Stevens

The New Orleans Saints traded back into the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft to select Mississippi State quarterback Tommy Stevens.

So much for a quiet final four rounds. After trading all of their picks to move up for tight end Adam Trautman, the New Orleans Saints traded again to acquire a seventh-round draft pick from the Houston Texans, picking Mississippi State quarterback Tommy Stevens at No. 240.

Listed at 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds, Stevens drew comparisons to Taysom Hill while rumbling and tumbling through four years at Penn State and a fifth season with Mississippi State. He threw just 202 passes in college, 161 of them in 2019 for the Bulldogs. He has a career completion percentage of 59.9%, putting up 1,459 passing yards with 15 touchdowns thrown against 6 interceptions.

Stevens ran 159 times at the college level, gaining 887 rushing yards and scoring a dozen touchdowns. He also caught 14 passes for another 62 receiving yards, hitting the end zone twice.

He’s as close to a versatile backup for Hill as the Saints are likely to find. It’ll be interesting to see if they continue exploring their options on the free agent market.

WATCH: Texas WR Devin Duvernay on his legacy as a Longhorn

Devin Duvernay reflected on his collegiate career at Texas, where he hopes to be remembered as someone who led by example.

Texas wide receiver Devin Duvernay is hoping to fulfill a lifelong dream of being selected in the 2020 NFL Draft. Continue reading “WATCH: Texas WR Devin Duvernay on his legacy as a Longhorn”

2020 NFL Draft: Saints select Michigan OL Cesar Ruiz

The New Orleans Saints selected Michigan Wolverines center/guard prospect Cesar Ruiz with their first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

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The New Orleans Saints made their first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft by selecting Michigan Wolverines offensive lineman Cesar Ruiz. Initially slotted to pick at No. 24 overall, the Saints stood pat despite media chatter speculating on their efforts to trade up the board grew as the day wore on.

Ruiz started at center for the Wolverines the last two years after playing right guard as a freshman back in 2017, and should slot back into that spot whenever Pro Bowl right guard Larry Warford moves on. Warford is entering the final year of his contract and has the second-highest salary cap hit on the team, so he may be a candidate to be traded so Ruiz can contribute right away.

It’s not the glamorous pick many Saints fans may have wanted, but it’s a smart investment. Ruiz should do a lot to solidify an offensive line that struggled to hold itself together down the stretch in 2019.

With Tua Tagovailoa in Miami, the Saints should try to trade for Josh Rosen

The New Orleans Saints should take a shot at trading for Miami Dolphins backup quarterback Josh Rosen after Miami drafted Tua Tagovailoa.

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The Miami Dolphins completed their bid for Tua Tagovailoa by selecting the Alabama quarterback prospect with the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and that creates an opportunity for the New Orleans Saints.

With Tagovailoa and Ryan Fitzpatrick locked in, that puts backup passer Josh Rosen on the trading block again. It’s not fair to Rosen, sure — he was given a raw deal with the Arizona Cardinals in his rookie year before getting shipped out of town to Miami, who also had their eyes on another quarterback the entire time. But New Orleans might be where he can stick around.

Neither the Cardinals nor the Dolphins have fielded a single offensive lineman who would start for the Saints the last few years. Both teams have overhauled their coaching staffs and put Rosen through a lot of instability. It’s tough to understate just how strong of a situation he could step into with the Saints.

And it might not take much to acquire him. Rosen was traded to the Dolphins in exchange for a package of second- and fifth-round draft picks, and his stock has only sunk further after the Dolphins tanked their 2019 season. The Saints wouldn’t have to give up much to add him.

Going after Rosen might be the best move the Saints can make right now at quarterback. Drew Brees and Taysom Hill are the only passers under contract with the team right now, and Brees has already made retirement plans. Hill is a free agent after the season, when he’ll be 30. If nothing else, having Rosen around to hold a clipboard on game days would be worth the price of a late-round draft pick. If he shows the Saints something in training camp and can compete with Hill to start in the future, even better.

But that’s all predicated on the idea that the Dolphins would be open to moving Rosen. They could very well envision him as a long-term backup for Tagovailoa, who is recovering from a serious hip injury and a series of lower-leg issues.

But it wouldn’t hurt the Saints to ask.

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Michael Thomas congratulates Joe Burrow on being picked first overall

New Orleans Saints WR Michael Thomas is a big fan of LSU QB Joe Burrow, picked first overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2020 NFL Draft

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LSU Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow was picked first overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2020 NFL Draft, and he has a big fan in New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas.

Thomas congratulated Burrow on his accomplishment and his arrival to the NFL, acknowledging the struggles Burrow experienced at the college level before his breakout 2019 season. Burrow once played for Thomas’s alma mater with the Ohio State Buckeyes, but transferred to LSU after losing the starting quarterback battle with Dwayne Haskins.

It’s a great gesture by Thomas, who has dealt with his own adversity before a meteoric rise into NFL history. Maybe Burrow will experience a similar surge in Cincinnati, a town that’s been hurting for someone to rally around.

However, Burrow already played a part in making NFL history — immediately after he was selected first overall, the subsequent picks were Buckeyes teammates Chase Young (to the Washington Redskins) and Jeff Okudah (to the Detroit Lions). It’s the first time in the draft’s history that three teammates made up the first three picks. And that’s something Thomas, a proud Buckeye himself, took note of:

https://twitter.com/Cantguardmike/status/1253485827541422081

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Potential wide receiver prospects for Chiefs in each round of the 2020 NFL Draft

A look at some of the receiver prospects the Kansas City Chiefs could add in each round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Remarkably, the Kansas City Chiefs will return all of their receivers from their Super Bowl-winning season. The team re-signed Demarcus Robinson and reworked Sammy Watkins’ contract to lower his cap hit. That means all of the top targets for Patrick Mahomes will be back for the 2020 season.

Still, as Brett Veach said in his pre-draft press conference, the Chiefs are planning not just for the 2020 NFL season but with the future in mind. Both Robinson and Watkins are scheduled to become free agents again in 2021, which puts a future need on adding players to the receiver room. Here’s a look at some of the wide receiver prospects Kansas City could consider in each round of the 2020 NFL Draft:

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Round 1: Arizona State WR Brandon Aiyuk

There’s a lot to like about Aiyuk’s game. At 6-foot and 205 pounds, he has good size and physicality for the NFL game. He’s an extremely explosive athlete with the ball in his hands, capable of turning a quick slant into a 70-yard touchdown. During his senior season at Arizona State, he more than doubled his yardage total from the season prior with just 32 more catches.

His athletic testing proved that his tape wasn’t a fluke, running a 4.5 40-yard dash at the combine and posting a 40-inch vertical leap. Aiyuk also has upside as a return man on both punts and kicks. He had some of the top production at kick returner in the country in 2019.

Many believe that Aiyuk is the superior prospect to N’Keal Harry, who was also from Arizona State and was drafted at pick No. 32 last season. This option would help the Chiefs keep a healthy arsenal of weapons for QB Patrick Mahomes.

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Texas targeting four-star outside linebacker from South Carolina

The Longhorns desperately need depth at the linebacker position, four-star outside linebacker Jaylen Sneed becomes a top target in 2022.

Texas is in desperate need of depth at the linebacker position. Continue reading “Texas targeting four-star outside linebacker from South Carolina”

2020 NFL Draft: Saints spend time with another big defensive tackle

The New Orleans Saints reached out to Georgia Bulldogs defensive tackle Michael Barnett, a sleeper prospect in the 2020 NFL Draft.

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The New Orleans Saints just can’t quit adding talent to their defensive line. In addition to interviews with early-round prospects like Utah’s Leki Fotu and Texas A&M’s Justin Madubuike, Justin Melo over at Draft Wire reports that the Saints also touched base with Georgia Bulldogs lineman Michael Barnett.

Snubbed by this year’s NFL Scouting Combine, Barnett hoped to show out at Georgia’s pro day before it was canceled due to the novel coronavirus. The 6-foot-4, 304-pounder is a dark horse to be picked in the final rounds of the 2020 draft after posting a career-high 24 tackles last season. He played sparingly in the years before, having been buried on one of college football’s strongest depth chart.

It makes sense for the Saints to be doing their homework on players like Barnett. They’ve had success with these undrafted big men out of the SEC before, counting contributors like Devaroe Lawrence (Auburn), Taylor Stallworth (South Carolina), and Shy Tuttle (Tennessee) among the gems found in the rough. Lawrence signed with the Saints as a college free agent before getting traded to the Cleveland Browns for a draft pick, while Stallworth saw meaningful snaps in 2018 (19.8 plays per game) before Tuttle’s arrival in 2019 pushed him down to the practice squad.

With their final pick in this year’s draft coming at No. 203 (almost midway through the sixth round, with the entire seventh round still to go) the Saints should be very selective in their choices on the final day of the draft.

They also rank among the NFL’s leaders in players already under contract with 69 of 90 roster spots filled, so any undrafted free agents they bring in will face long odds of making it through final cuts. Still, Barnett is a name to remember once the draft wraps up, when teams will hit the phones hard to recruit players like him who have fallen through the cracks.

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Speedster, four-star WR mentions Texas in top remaining schools

The Longhorns are heavily targeting a four-star wide receiver from the 2021 recruiting class out of The Woodlands, TX.

A four-star wide receiver labeled the fastest player in the Texas from the 2021 recruiting class mentions Texas as one of his top remaining schools. Continue reading “Speedster, four-star WR mentions Texas in top remaining schools”

Potential cornerback prospects for Chiefs in each round of the 2020 NFL Draft

A look at some of the cornerback prospects the Kansas City Chiefs could add in each round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Both of the Kansas City Chiefs’ starting outside cornerbacks are set to become free agents in 2021. Bashaud Breeland will be a free agent again after re-signing on a one-year deal. Charvarius Ward will be a restricted free agent, so it’s likely that he’ll be back at least for that season. There is a need to find some cheap options in the draft to eventually replace one or both of these players.

Kansas City has been interested in adding a cornerback since the 2018 NFL Draft. They had a strong interest in now-Vikings cornerback Mike Hughes in 2018. We learned on the Chiefs’ 2019 documentary series “The Franchise” that the team also had an interest in many of the corners selected at the top of the second round in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Will 2020 be the year the Chiefs land a cornerback early in the draft? Here’s a look at some of the cornerback prospects Kansas City could consider in each round of the 2020 NFL Draft:

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Round 1: TCU CB Jeff Gladney

At 5-10 and 191 pounds, Gladney is one of the smaller corners getting first-round consideration, but he has good length with 32-inch arms. One thing that stands out with Gladney is his durability. He’s been a four-year starter at TCU appearing in 46 career games with the team, missing no time due to injury.

Gladney is an athletic cover corner, and while he doesn’t have the desired measurables, he never shies away from the competition. He knows how to fight through the catch point against bigger receivers. He’s very aggressive when defending the run.

Gladney has drawn a lot of interest from the Chiefs in the pre-draft process. Some view him as the No. 3 corner behind Jeff Okudah and C.J. Henderson, so the Chiefs might have to get lucky to draft him here.

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