New Orleans Saints Draft thread

[wicket]

this draft is gonna be tough to project for sure because we have to project what players look like in their 34 roles but as or right now i think the starters on the DLine are set but without depth. OLB is an issue, ilb is fine and the DBs still blow. OT, just like DB needs to be adressed regardless of schemechange.

Projecting our first round pick is starting to get damn tough tbh but i have a few guys in the third/fourth range who i really want and i really hope we spend our two picks (maybe 3 after comp) on a few of those guys.
OLB Chase Thomas, Stanford
OLB Brandon Jenkins, FSU
OT Chris Faulk, LSU
NT Brandon Williams, Southern Missouri State
OLB Jamie Collins, Southern Miss
CB Blidi Wreh WIlson, Uconn
CB Robert Alford, SE Louisiana
Both Georgia Safeties

and im reluctant to say DJ Swearinger because even though hed be awesome and would bring some attitude back to our D his indiscipline would be an issue

[CJSchneider]

Originally Posted by wicket

i really hope we spend our two picks (maybe 3 after comp) on a few of those guys.

OLB Chase Thomas, Stanford
OLB Brandon Jenkins, FSU
OT Chris Faulk, LSU

I think we have a small shot at a 4th round comp. pick. Getting Lofton keeps us from getting a 3rd imo.
I also like those top 3 a lot.

[diabsoule]

Here's my early mock draft for us:

Rd. 1 - Dion Jordan, DE/Oregon
Rd. 3 - Robert Alford, CB/Southeastern Louisiana
Rd. 4 - Brandon Williams, DT/Missouri Southern
Rd. 5 - Chris Harper, WR/Kansas St.
Rd. 6 - Ty Powell, LB/Harding
Rd. 7 - Mario Benavides, C/Louisville

[wicket]

Originally Posted by diabsoule

Here's my early mock draft for us:

Rd. 1 - Dion Jordan, DE/Oregon
Rd. 3 - Robert Alford, CB/Southeastern Louisiana
Rd. 4 - Brandon Williams, DT/Missouri Southern
Rd. 5 - Chris Harper, WR/Kansas St.
Rd. 6 - Ty Powell, LB/Harding
Rd. 7 - Mario Benavides, C/Louisville

not the biggest fan of jordan so im gonna flip it around, id rather have banks and thomas than jordan and alford personally but thats because im not high on jordan

Rd 1 - Jonthan Banks, CB/Mississippi State
Rd 3 - Chase Thomas, OLB/ Stanford
Rd 4 - Brandon Williams, DT/Southern Missouri State
Rd 5 - Marquess Wilson, WR/ Washington State
Rd 6 - Ryan Schraeder, OT/ Valdosta State
Rd 7 - Kapron Lewis-Moore, DE/Notre Dame

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by wicket

not the biggest fan of jordan so im gonna flip it around, id rather have banks and thomas than jordan and alford personally but thats because im not high on jordan

Rd 1 - Jonthan Banks, CB/Mississippi State
Rd 3 - Chase Thomas, OLB/ Stanford
Rd 4 - Brandon Williams, DT/Southern Missouri State
Rd 5 - Marquess Wilson, WR/ Washington State
Rd 6 - Ryan Schraeder, OT/ Valdosta State
Rd 7 - Kapron Lewis-Moore, DE/Notre Dame

I love Chase Thomas and strongly considered him too. I feel the same about Banks but I have strong doubts that he will be there in the 1st.

[wicket]

Originally Posted by diabsoule

I love Chase Thomas and strongly considered him too. I feel the same about Banks but I have strong doubts that he will be there in the 1st.

i actually woulndt mind picking fisher with that first round pick either by the way. a true gamechanging 34 OLB wont be there with our first round pick anyway and the guys we can get in the third are just a small dropoff to a guy like mingo. So we might as well upgrade the Oline because there is room to do that as well

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by wicket

i actually woulndt mind picking fisher with that first round pick either by the way. a true gamechanging 34 OLB wont be there with our first round pick anyway and the guys we can get in the third are just a small dropoff to a guy like mingo. So we might as well upgrade the Oline because there is room to do that as well

Eric Fisher dropping to #15 would be nothing short of the miraculous drop Cam Jordan had two years ago. That being said, I see almost no possible way Fisher falls all that way. I talked to Scott and Shane this weekend in Mobile and both said that they see Fisher's basement at San Diego at #11. There's no possible way I would want to move up to draft him because that would dwindle New Orlean's already thin arsenal of draft picks.

[diabsoule]

What do y'all think of this:

Rd. 1 - John Jenkins, DT/Georgia
Rd. 3 - Chase Thomas, OLB/Stanford
Rd. 4 - Kiko Alonso, ILB/Oregon
Rd. 5 - Chris Harper, WR/Kansas State
Rd. 6 - Terrance Brown, CB/Stanford
Rd. 7 - Mario Benavides, C/Louisville

[wicket]

Originally Posted by diabsoule

What do y'all think of this:

Rd. 1 - John Jenkins, DT/Georgia
Rd. 3 - Chase Thomas, OLB/Stanford
Rd. 4 - Kiko Alonso, ILB/Oregon
Rd. 5 - Chris Harper, WR/Kansas State
Rd. 6 - Terrance Brown, CB/Stanford
Rd. 7 - Mario Benavides, C/Louisville

not a huge fan of jenkins at that spot, rather have the australian bama nose who is higher up my board but the rest of the picks i do like. I do however hope that if we go late round wideout that Marquess Wilson is the guy

[CJSchneider]

Love the Kiko Alonso pick.

[zachsaints52]

Originally Posted by wicket

not the biggest fan of jordan so im gonna flip it around, id rather have banks and thomas than jordan and alford personally but thats because im not high on jordan

Rd 1 - Jonthan Banks, CB/Mississippi State
Rd 3 - Chase Thomas, OLB/ Stanford
Rd 4 - Brandon Williams, DT/Southern Missouri State
Rd 5 - Marquess Wilson, WR/ Washington State
Rd 6 - Ryan Schraeder, OT/ Valdosta State
Rd 7 - Kapron Lewis-Moore, DE/Notre Dame

I like this draft. But darn it I want Te'o :/

[wicket]

Originally Posted by zachsaints52

I like this draft. But darn it I want Te'o :/

Im a ND fan so id love seeing the kid in black and gold as well but we have too many other needs i think, wouldnt be upset if we picked him though

[zachsaints52]

Originally Posted by wicket

Im a ND fan so id love seeing the kid in black and gold as well but we have too many other needs i think, wouldnt be upset if we picked him though

Our rush D was just as bad as our pass D, at least we know Te'o can help stop the run and isn't a "project". I don't think we have the LB core to do a 3-4, especially since switching to the 3-4 essentially means Vilma is gone (Jets switching to the 3-4 is the reason we got him).

[wicket]

Originally Posted by zachsaints52

Our rush D was just as bad as our pass D, at least we know Te'o can help stop the run and isn't a "project". I don't think we have the LB core to do a 3-4, especially since switching to the 3-4 essentially means Vilma is gone (Jets switching to the 3-4 is the reason we got him).

i get that but at ilb we at least have 2 decent starters with lofton and hawthorne. Those two make me way less nervous than Tez Wilson and Junior Galette who are the projected starters on the OLB spots. I think Teo would be a way more likely pick if we happened to get our second rounder back. We just have too many needs and too little money in FA to allow relative luxury picks.

[zachsaints52]

Originally Posted by wicket

i get that but at ilb we at least have 2 decent starters with lofton and hawthorne. Those two make me way less nervous than Tez Wilson and Junior Galette who are the projected starters on the OLB spots. I think Teo would be a way more likely pick if we happened to get our second rounder back. We just have too many needs and too little money in FA to allow relative luxury picks.

I dunno, I don't see Hawthorne as a 3-4 ILB. Wasn't he at TCU and they ran a 3-4 and he was OLB?

[wicket]

Originally Posted by zachsaints52

I dunno, I don't see Hawthorne as a 3-4 ILB. Wasn't he at TCU and they ran a 3-4 and he was OLB?

yes he was but the 34 TCU ran was not a 34 anywhere like a pro style 34. He played OLB that blitzed a bit but in comparison to that pretty much every pro 34 is a virtual 52 front. TCU by comparison dropped four all the time with that 3 man front and ILB in a pro 34 is way closer to what he did than OLB in whatever we are going to run

[Saints Dome Patrol]

Originally Posted by diabsoule

Here's my early mock draft for us:

Rd. 1 - Dion Jordan, DE/Oregon
Rd. 3 - Robert Alford, CB/Southeastern Louisiana
Rd. 4 - Brandon Williams, DT/Missouri Southern
Rd. 5 - Chris Harper, WR/Kansas St.
Rd. 6 - Ty Powell, LB/Harding
Rd. 7 - Mario Benavides, C/Louisville

Originally Posted by diabsoule

What do y'all think of this:

Rd. 1 - John Jenkins, DT/Georgia
Rd. 3 - Chase Thomas, OLB/Stanford
Rd. 4 - Kiko Alonso, ILB/Oregon
Rd. 5 - Chris Harper, WR/Kansas State
Rd. 6 - Terrance Brown, CB/Stanford
Rd. 7 - Mario Benavides, C/Louisville

Alright, y'all, let me take a stab at this.

We know the Saints are not going to have their second round selection thanks to the "Bounty-gate" situation. And we are also transitioning to a three-four front.

I don't see the Saints moving up. New Orleans, as we already know, is limited in what they could offer in trade bait and it would be way too expensive to move only a few spots.

But I'm going to throw out a curve ball. I really think the Saints would be better off trading down, even if it's only a few spots, especially if New Orleans could get a second rounder or another third rounder.

However, I don't think they're going to find that many teams willing to make a trade up to the fifteenth spot. It's too low to find that big name, five-star player. But there's a possibility that there could be a team there that could be looking to leap-frog another team and get someone before the other team drafts. So who knows.

With all respect to diabsoule and wicket, here's my pre-Super Bowl projection of the Saints draft. I don't want to copy their picks, but I'm not as well-versed with the Draft like I used to be... *sigh* As it is, I'm going to go out on a limb here.

Round 1: Sam Montgomery, defensive end, LSU
Round 3: Brandon Williams, defensive tackle, Missouri Southern
Round 4: Menelik Watson, offensive tackle, Florida State
Round 5: Quinton Patton, wide receiver, Louisiana Tech
Round 6: Rontez Miles, safety, California (Pennsylvania)
Round 7: James Ferentz, center, Iowa

[zachsaints52]

I firmly believe if we don't recoup our 2nd (and lose later ones) we will trade down, no question.

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by Saints Dome Patrol

Alright, y'all, let me take a stab at this.

We know the Saints are not going to have their second round selection thanks to the "Bounty-gate" situation. And we are also transitioning to a three-four front.

I don't see the Saints moving up. New Orleans, as we already know, is limited in what they could offer in trade bait and it would be way too expensive to move only a few spots.

But I'm going to throw out a curve ball. I really think the Saints would be better off trading down, even if it's only a few spots, especially if New Orleans could get a second rounder or another third rounder.

However, I don't think they're going to find that many teams willing to make a trade up to the fifteenth spot. It's too low to find that big name, five-star player. But there's a possibility that there could be a team there that could be looking to leap-frog another team and get someone before the other team drafts. So who knows.

With all respect to diabsoule and wicket, here's my pre-Super Bowl projection of the Saints draft. I don't want to copy their picks, but I'm not as well-versed with the Draft like I used to be... *sigh* As it is, I'm going to go out on a limb here.

Round 1: Sam Montgomery, defensive end, LSU
Round 3: Brandon Williams, defensive tackle, Missouri Southern
Round 4: Menelik Watson, offensive tackle, Florida State
Round 5: Quinton Patton, wide receiver, Louisiana Tech
Round 6: Rontez Miles, safety, California (Pennsylvania)
Round 7: James Ferentz, center, Iowa

I would be perfectly fine with "Sonic" Sam in round 1. I also love me some Quinton Patton but I don't think he'll be around in Round 5 with the way he blew up at the Senior Bowl.

[Flyboy]

I'm really in a Mingo, Dion Jordan or Jarvis Jones at #15 for our pick in that order.

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by Flyboy

I'm really in a Mingo, Dion Jordan or Jarvis Jones at #15 for our pick in that order.

Same here, man. I don't think we could go wrong AT ALL with drafting either one of those players. Jarvis Jones is catching a lot of heat these days for whichever reason. Hell, I watched him play at UGA, he was dominant at times. I would take that type of talent in our LB unit.

[wicket]

Originally Posted by diabsoule

Same here, man. I don't think we could go wrong AT ALL with drafting either one of those players. Jarvis Jones is catching a lot of heat these days for whichever reason. Hell, I watched him play at UGA, he was dominant at times. I would take that type of talent in our LB unit.

I think drafting Jordan could blow up in our face big time. He is really talented and prolly has the highest upside of the three but we need him to be more dominant in the pros than he was in college for him to be worth the pick and that is quite a big ask. I really do see his upside but that kid is all athlete right now, not a football player.

[Naga114]

It's Mingo - Jones - Ansah - Jordan for me.
But if we could trade down and take Ansah or expect a top player to fall into our laps like Cam Jordan ...

[Flyboy]

Originally Posted by wicket

I think drafting Jordan could blow up in our face big time. He is really talented and prolly has the highest upside of the three but we need him to be more dominant in the pros than he was in college for him to be worth the pick and that is quite a big ask. I really do see his upside but that kid is all athlete right now, not a football player.

I think people are going to be surprised how good Dion Jordan may end up being and he's being slept on as a prospect. He has great talent. Mingo is my #1 player in the draft, period and I'm really hoping that he falls or a small trade-up to acquire him. Jarvis Jones could be good too but the spinal injury does scare me and I expect him to fall some. All of those players though would be instant impact on our defense and a starter in our new 3-4 scheme.

One player I want us to avoid is Ansah; he's just too, too raw. Our team is in a win-now mode especially with our offense the way it is and should be even be better with Payton back at the helm. Ansah is a player that could eventually turn out to be a good player but I'm willing to invest him in as a player to wait to see that.

[Flyboy]

Originally Posted by diabsoule

Same here, man. I don't think we could go wrong AT ALL with drafting either one of those players. Jarvis Jones is catching a lot of heat these days for whichever reason. Hell, I watched him play at UGA, he was dominant at times. I would take that type of talent in our LB unit.

Yeah, he really was. If it wasn't for his injury concerns, I'd probably rank him over Jordan but I really do think Jordan's upside is special. Aldon Smith-esque.