However you feel about the New Orleans Saints’ 2023 draft class, they came away with players who were highly productive players and (in many cases) team captains and high-level athletes at some of their top positions of need.
So how does that translate to an overall draft grade? Here’s a take on the Saints draft class from Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar, who graded them with a solid B. He likes what the Saints accomplished across the board:
The Saints lost a lot of talent along their defensive line in free agency, and they addressed that with authority in this draft. If Bryan Bresee can stay healthy, he’ll be one of the best interior disruptors in this entire draft class. He’s a natural one-gap penetrator, and you can line him up everywhere from nose shade to edge. I liked Isaiah Foskey’s tape more than some people I’ve talked to, and head coach Dennis Allen won’t have any trouble taking Foskey’s 12 sacks and 33 total pressures from last season and extracting that kind of production in his concepts.
The steal of this group is Wake Forest receiver A.T. Perry, who I thought would go in the second day. Perhaps the Demon Deacons’ offense is tough for NFL people to project (I would understand that), but Perry caught 81 passes for 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. I’m not sure how much “projecting” you need to do there. And the Saints can have Fresno State Alumni Day every day with Derek Carr and Jake Haener, who is a quality developmental quarterback.
Sure, the Saints did some things that won’t sit right with everyone. They traded up a few times and may have reached on some prospects higher than the consensus opinion suggests they should have been picked. But at the end of the day, if the Saints got players who can help this team win football games, no one will even remember what was given up to acquire them.
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