Tag: two rounds

Saints get Derek Carr more weapons in this two-round mock draft

The New Orleans Saints got Derek Carr more weapons in ESPN’s two-round mock draft after the Senior Bowl:

We’re only going to see more mock drafts as the 2024 NFL draft draws closer, so it’s important to remember why these are valuable: accuracy isn’t necessarily the point. Exploring different scenarios and considering different players is the focus in these thought exercises. Still, they sometimes have a nugget of truth in them — draft experts keyed in quickly on the New Orleans Saints’ interest in Bryan Bresee, Chris Olave, and Trevor Penning in recent years.

The latest projection comes from ESPN’s Matt Miller, who broke down two rounds of picks after spending a week catching up with NFL scouts and team personnel at Senior Bowl practices. And his vision for the Saints is clear: get Derek Carr more weapons. That starts in the first round by picking Georgia tight end Brock Bowers at No. 14 overall. Miller writes:

The Saints miss out on the quarterbacks and top wide receivers in this scenario, but they land a legitimate top-10 talent in Bowers. Built in the mold of George Kittle or Sam LaPorta, Bowers had 56 catches and six scores in 2023, and he left college with 26 career receiving touchdowns to go along with five rushing scores. The 6-foot-4 240-pounder shows great strength when asked to block, but his real value is as a middle-of-the-field receiver, where he can post up safeties and run past linebackers.

Both of the Saints’ top tight ends, Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau, underperformed last season. They’re each under contract for 2024 but it wouldn’t hurt to invest in a long-term plan at the position. Tight ends are notoriously slow to develop but the thinking is Bowers has enough athleticism to help out right away as a receiver while working on his blocking. He has averaged an impressed 8.5 yards after the catch per reception in his career while going 23-of-39 on contested catches (59%), per Pro Football Focus charting.

What about the second round? Miller has the Saints spending their second pick (at No. 45, coming from the Denver Broncos) on South Carolina wide receiver Xavier Legette. He weighed in a little shorter than his listed size at the Senior Bowl but he still has plenty to work with, having broken out in his fifth season with the Gamecocks. Miller sees him as a good fit in New Orleans:

Veteran wide receiver Michael Thomas is expected to hit free agency and might not return, leaving the Saints with a hole opposite Chris Olave. Legette is powerful at 6-foot-1 and 227 pounds and has an ability to play inside or outside. He’s a master on crossing routes and averaged 17.6 yards per reception in 2023.

Hopefully Carr can have more success targeting those routes over the middle with Legette than he did with Thomas; Carr’s hesitancy on those timing routes attacking the middle of the field were a problem throughout the season. He’s more comfortable targeting the boundary and going outside the numbers than throwing into traffic. Legette would need to help build Carr’s confidence in those passes to bring crossers, slants, and other in-breaking routes back to the offense.

But having multiple high-upside receivers under contract for the foreseeable future would be big. The Saints will retain Rashid Shaheed on an exclusive-rights free agent tender this season (it’s their only option, according to the CBA) and they have both Chris Olave and A.T. Perry playing on rookie contracts. Adding Legette and Bowers to the mix could help prop up Carr and establish a strong supporting cast for the next Saints quarterback if his stay in New Orleans ends up being only temporary.

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Saints make some good moves in Dane Brugler’s two-round mock draft

The Saints got better in the trenches on both side of the ball with their picks in Dane Brugler’s two-round 2024 mock draft:

These should be some popular choices for New Orleans Saints fans. There are many draft analysts who are better connected and more clued-in to what scouts and teams are thinking than the Athletic’s Dane Brugler, who updated his projections for the 2024 NFL draft with a two-round mock.

Brugler has been all-over the Saints’ interest in prospects like Chris Olave and Isaiah Foskey in recent years, so it’s important to tap in when he’s sharing information. A lot will change between now and draft day at the end of April, but Brugler’s projections are often a good tell as to which positions the Saints might be favoring.

And in this mock draft he has New Orleans upgrading its pass rush in the first round with Florida State defensive end Jared Verse. Here’s why Brugler sees Verse as a fit with the Saints at No. 14:

The quarterback situation will dominate draft talk, but the Saints must address the trenches (on both sides) this offseason. With his experience and traits, Verse is a plug-and-play pass rusher who fits the mold for what New Orleans likes to target in Round 1.

Verse nails the athletic prototype the Saints look for at the right defensive end spot, weighing in at a listed 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds. Timing drills and final weigh-ins at the combine will be important for New Orleans’ pre-draft process in evaluating him, but his tape speaks for itself: Verse came away with 29.5 tackles for loss, 18 sacks, 3 pass deflections, 2 fumble recoveries, and a forced fumble in his 25 games at Florida State, plus 89 tackles (45 solo). Pro Football Focus charting found he generated 60 quarterback pressures this season. He can play against top-shelf competition.

So it’s safe to say that Verse would add some much-needed pass rush production off the edge. That would be big for a Saints defense that tied for the fourth-fewest sacks and fifth-worst pressure rate in 2023. Cameron Jordan isn’t the force he once was and Carl Granderson can’t do it alone while Foskey and Payton Turner struggle to make a positive impact. Tanoh Kpassagnon is a good player to have in the rotation but he shouldn’t rank fifth on the team in pass-rush snaps (264).

But this is a two-round projection — so what does Brugler have the Saints doing with that second-round pick coming back to them from the Denver Broncos, slotted in at No. 45 overall? It’s no secret that their offensive line wasn’t good enough in 2023, so Brugler likes New Orleans to draft one of this year’s underrated blockers in Kansas Jayhawks tackle/guard Dominick Puni. Here’s why:

The Saints aren’t ready to give up on Trevor Penning just yet, but they still need to address the offensive line in a major way. After playing with his older brothers at Central Missouri, Puni transferred to Kansas and put together back-to-back strong seasons, starting at both left tackle and left guard.

Puni certainly has the size the Saints look for at a listed 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds, though he might be moving back to guard in the NFL after playing left tackle in 2023. Pro teams (especially the Saints) have very strict standards for arm length and wingspan when evaluating college left tackles and there are concerns Puni might not hit those thresholds.

James Hurst was a liability for the Saints at left guard last season and he’ll be entering a contract year in 2024, the same year he’s turning 33 years old. New Orleans is hopeful that Nick Saldiveri can develop into a starting-quality left guard, but he wasn’t able to fully make the transition from playing right tackle in college before an injury took him out late in the regular season. Puni has more experience at the position and the ability to play left tackle is a positive given the uncertain-at-best outlook for Penning.

Both of these picks would address the Saints’ needs and make the team better. There’s certainly an argument for drafting a young quarterback but don’t expect Dennis Allen and Mickey Loomis to reverse course on Derek Carr after spending four months making excuses for his poor performance. Their mission statement this offseason is going to be all about supporting him and empowering him to lead the offense. That means improving the trench play on both sides of the line and getting him more weapons to work with.

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Saints reload their DL, OL in new two-round mock draft

The New Orleans Saints reloaded their defensive and offensive lines in a new two-round projection from Draft Wire, two weeks out from the 2023 draft:

Things are starting to come into focus for the New Orleans Saints with the 2023 NFL draft drawing closer by the day. The Saints always invest premium picks in their offensive and defensive lines, and that’s expected to continue when the upcoming draft kicks off in two weeks.

That approach was echoed in a new two-round projection from Draft Wire’s Jeff Risdon, who has the Saints upgrading their defensive tackles depth chart before pivoting to a succession plan at guard in the second round. It’s a promising proposition. Let’s break down each pick and see whether they were the best prospects available for New Orleans:

Mel Kiper’s new two-round mock draft has Saints making moves at DT, TE

Mel Kiper’s new two-round mock draft has the Saints making moves with defensive tackle Calijah Kancey and tight end Darnell Washington:

Here’s a new take on the 2023 NFL draft from ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr., and it looks much the same as his last projection for the New Orleans Saints. Kiper still has the Saints addressing their defensive line to start out, selecting Pittsburgh Panthers defensive tackle Calijah Kancey in the first round at No. 29 overall.

Here’s what he wrote of the match:

As I mentioned in my previous mock draft, the Saints completely turned over at defensive tackle and added Khalen Saunders and Nathan Shepherd to be their new starters. What if they’re not done adding? Kancey is one of my favorite prospects in this class. He’s so explosive as a penetrator, and despite being undersized — 6-foot-1, 281 pounds — he’s going to rack up sacks at the next level. He had 14.5 over the past two seasons. New Orleans could also look at the pass-catchers here, either a tight end or receiver.

Kancey has been a popular pick for the Saints despite his underwhelming size and length, which head coach Dennis Allen has emphasized as a priority for them in scouting linemen. He’s becoming something of a consensus pick for New Orleans in the media these days. We’ll see if Kancey even makes it to their pick at the end of Round 1, and whether the Saints’ commitment to their athletic prototypes causes some consternation in the war room.

But this was a two-round model from Kiper, so what else did he have in store for New Orleans? He’s linked them to Georgia Bulldogs tight end Darnell Washington before, and that’s a fit he still likes, even if it’s in Round 2 instead of Round 1. Some fans may turn up their nose at that disparity, but the Saints’ first- and second-round picks are separated by only 11 slots. If they stay put, odds are both prospects are going to be graded very similarly.

Kiper’s take on the Washington-to-New Orleans idea:

I made this match in Round 1 of my Mock Draft 2.0, because the Saints need to get more production out of the tight end position. We know new starting quarterback Derek Carr appreciates the position and targets it often. Washington is a tough evaluation because he just didn’t get the ball much. He had 45 catches and three touchdowns in three college seasons. At 6-foot-7, 264 pounds, though, he has all the physical tools to be a complete player.

Washington can immediately upgrade the blocking tight end role over Adam Trautman, but it’ll probably take some time for him to carve into Juwan Johnson’s targets as a pass-catcher. And that’s just fine. The Saints struggled to run as well as they wanted to last season, so any improvement Washington brings in the blocking up front for Alvin Kamara, Jamaal Williams, and whichever running back they draft in the middle rounds would be worth it.

New Orleans needs to get two instant contributors with these two picks. If Kancey and Washington are giving them about 30 productive snaps each week, that’s a big win.

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Todd McShay’s two-round mock draft brings big upgrades for the Saints

Todd McShay’s two-round mock draft brought big upgrades for the Saints defensive line and tight ends depth chart:

We’re closing in on the final stretch to the 2023 NFL draft, which means a new series of mock drafts are dropping all around the league’s orbit. And the latest take is a two-round projection from ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay, who has some on-brand picks in mind for the New Orleans Saints.

The Saints need more depth along their defensive line, which McShay made their top priority. But they could also get more dynamic offensively, and there are ample opportunities for accomplishing that in the second round of this projection. Here’s who he has going to New Orleans:

Latest PFF mock draft has the Saints picking another athletic, raw defensive end

The latest PFF mock draft has the Saints picking another athletic, raw defensive end and a pass-catching tight end with an injury history:

Hey, you can’t say this mock draft isn’t realistic. Pro Football Focus draft analyst Trevor Sikkema recently published a two-round projection for the 2023 NFL draft ahead of this week’s combine in Indianapolis, where a number of prospects hope to separate from the pack off of impressive timing in athletic drills. And with their first pick, he has the New Orleans Saints selecting Clemson Tigers defensive end Myles Murphy at No. 29 overall.

“At 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds with a ton of athletic potential, Murphy fits the bill for the type of player the Saints gravitate toward on the defensive line. His lack of production is a concern, but his combine performance will likely lock him into the first round,” Sikkema wrote, describing any of the last three defensive ends the Saints have picked in the first round.

Whether it’s Myles Murphy, Payton Turner, or Marcus Davenport, they share a common characteristic: none of them were finished products coming out of college. Davenport missed too much time with injuries to fully develop in New Orleans. Turner has been surpassed by other backups on the depth chart through two seasons. Maybe Murphy enjoys better luck.

But this wasn’t the only Saints pick in Sikkema’s projection. In the second round of this mock draft, he has New Orleans landing Oregon State tight end Luke Musgrave — an impressive athlete who put up 169 receiving yards in the first two weeks last season, looking unguardable against future NFL prospects playing for Boise State and Fresno State. But an unfortunate knee injury ended his breakout season, and he had to wait until the Senior Bowl to show what he could do.

From the PFF 2023 draft guide: “Musgrave has the goods. He just doesn’t have the refinement. The good thing is he can still contribute due to his tools while developing into a more complete pass-catcher.”

A couple of high-upside athletes with untapped potential and worrying injury histories? Hey, those sure sound like Saints draft picks. Hopefully both players can shake the injury bug and develop into quality pros once they’re in the NFL in a few months.

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Saints improve but neglect their top need in Mel Kiper’s two-round mock draft

The Saints improved at linebacker and receiver in Mel Kiper’s NFL mock draft update for ESPN, but they still need an upgrade at cornerback.

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The 2021 NFL draft is just two weeks away, so ESPN’s Mel Kiper released an updated two-round mock draft to share his latest guess at how the opening picks might shake out. And while the Saints get better on each side of the ball, this projection has them exiting the first two rounds without addressing their most important need: cornerback.

Instead, Kiper has the Saints spending their first pick at No. 28 overall on Tulsa linebacker Zaven Collins. Here’s what he wrote of the match:

“The Saints haven’t been able to add players this offseason because of their salary-cap constraints, so this is their best chance to get a player who can make an immediate impact. They have to hit on their pick if they want to extend their championship window with Drew Brees retired. Collins is a versatile linebacker who was the only FBS player to have at least four sacks and four interceptions last season. He wasn’t asked to rush the passer much, but he still got four sacks. He could play outside or middle linebacker for New Orleans. He’s a fun defender to watch.”

Collins could slot into the Saints starting defense next to Demario Davis right away, injecting a much-needed boost of athleticism and playmaking ability to a vulnerable position group. But that would be quite an indictment of Zack Baun, a linebacker the Saints drafted last year and couldn’t find snaps for behind Davis, Alex Anzalone, and midseason trade pickup Kwon Alexander. New Orleans doesn’t own its third rounder this year after trading that pick to help acquire Baun in the first place; investing so much in him and drafting his replacement so soon would be tough to explain.

But let’s move on to the second round, where Kiper has linked the Saints to Purdue slot receiver Rondale Moore. Moore is a stronger version of Deonte Harris who produced against better competition, but he comes with his own injury history much like the undrafted returns specialist. Here’s Kiper’s vision for how Moore could fit in:

“With Emmanuel Sanders gone in free agency, I have to believe the Saints will use one of their first two picks on a receiver. And since I went with a versatile front-seven piece in Round 1, I’ll add Moore here for Sean Payton & Co. Purdue ran its entire offense through Moore, who’s 5-foot-7 but extremely explosive with the ball in his hands. He forced 30 missed tackles as a freshman in 2018. Payton will be able to get the most out of Moore, using him on jet sweeps and screens and getting him the ball in creative ways.”

It’s easy to see the appeal in both of these picks, but it leaves the Saints without a challenger to compete with Patrick Robinson and P.J. Williams for the starting job across from Marshon Lattimore. Tossing two career backups and some practice squad holdovers into that battle, maybe along with a rookie picked in the middle rounds, is a steep regression from the level Janoris Jenkins played at last year. Maybe the Saints could find a veteran free agent willing to sign at an affordable price to make up for it, but that’s still a glaring weakness.

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