Tyler735 Saints Mock Draft

[tyler735]

Round 1 (24th Overall): 

Patrick Queen LB LSU

 

At this point I think most would agree that the Saints most glaring position of need is LB. Demario Davis is a stud, but after that it gets fairly questionable as Alex Anzalone and Kiko Alonso have shown they have some talent to work with, but both have had trouble staying on the field. We also don't have a ton of depth behind those 3 LB's, which brings in the importance of getting a highly regarded LB such as Patrick Queen. He is one of the younger prospects in the draft, and appears to have a very high ceiling. He took over a starting spot due to injury towards the end of 2018, and hasn't looked back since being placed in the starting lineup. He possesses excellent athleticism for the position, and can cover a ton of ground in a hurry. With a guy like Davis on the team who also possesses excellent athleticism for the position, they could form quite the LB pairing. Queen could be a helpful asset in coverage for us, and has the athleticism to chase down plays with his side to side explosiveness. It appears Queen has good instincts for the position, which seems to be a concern for a guy like Kenneth Murray who possesses equally impressive athleticism for the position and a bit more size, but his decision making/instincts have been called into question on numerous scouting reports, which is a bit concerning to me after the Stephone Anthony situation a few years back. Kenneth Murray likely isn't as severe a case in that regard compared to Stephone Anthony, but if I had my choice between Queen and Murray at this point I'd lean towards Queen. I think either one would be a welcomed addition to a LB unit that needs some added talent. 

Scouting Report:

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/patrick-queen?id=32195155-4530-8806-168a-7e9ee3bd3f9

 

Round 3 (88th Overall):

Devin Duvernay WR Texas

 

With the signing of Emmanuel Sanders, we filled a glaring need at the WR #2 position. With that said, we still could use some more talent at WR as Emmanuel Sanders is likely a stopgap at that spot given his current age. This draft may be one of the deepest WR drafts ever, which certainly could play to our advantage grabbing a guy late in the 3rd round that likely could go in the 2nd round in other drafts. Devin Duvernay appears to be a very polarizing prospect by most draft sites as he does have a lot to like about him as a prospect, but there are also some concerns in his game that are valid. Lets start with the positives, he is one of the fastest guys in the draft (4.3 40 time, has run 10.27 100m dash- for perspective Devery Henderson and Reggie Bush ran 10.4 100m), he has some of the best hands in the draft, he plays a very physical style of football almost like a RB with the ball in his hands, is among the best YAC WR's in the draft, and is coming off a very productive senior season with 100+ catches, and 1,300+ receiving yards. As previously referenced, he has excellent hands and does a good job catching the ball even with tight coverage on him, he had a dropped pass rate of 2% last season, and I believe accounted for a total of 3 dropped passes in his entire college career. As mentioned there are some concerns with him as a prospect. His route running at this point isn't great, and needs improvement, he played primarily from the slot at Texas and hasn't shown if he can consistently win playing outside. I think the beauty of this pick would be that he would start out as our #3 WR, and would have time to improve those areas of his game with Thomas and Sanders ahead of him on the depth chart. He undoubtedly has the speed to beat teams deep and take the top off a defense if asked to, which likely wouldn't be all that often this year with Brees at the helm given his current lack of ability to hit the deep ball, but with plays where Hill or a future starting QB are behind center, it certainly would be nice to have, but Duvernay's game doesn't revolve around just running 9 routes. He does a lot of damage on shorter routes where he can get the ball and run, in this regard some have compared him to a guy like Deebo Samuel. This is something Sean Payton excels at as a coach, and he could work around Duvernay's limitations to put him in situations where he can truly utilize his explosiveness.

Here's likely the top Safety in the Draft trying to tackle Duvernay this past season:

 

Scouting Report

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/devin-duvernay?id=32194455-5645-9005-cfce-f0b0bb8205b8

 

Round 4 (130th Overall):

Antonio Gibson RB/WR Memphis

 

This guy is a bit of a project, and there will undoubtedly be more proven guys on the board here, but if a team hasn't taken a chance on him yet in the draft, this seems like the perfect Sean Payton project. Antonio Gibson is an absolute freak of an athlete and looks like he could play either RB or WR. Despite the limited tape on him, I wouldn't be surprised if a team picked him earlier than this pick given how freakish his athleticism is. If he was to play RB, he athletically looks like he could be similar to what David Johnson was a few years back before all the injuries. Gibson is 220+lbs, runs a 4.39 40, has the quickness of a much smaller RB with his cutting ability, and appears to just bounce off would be tacklers. Given the Latavious Murray is 30 years old, and not likely in our long term plans, this could be a fun player to develop, and he also possesses some of same types of qualities as a guy like Alvin Kamara in regards to versatility, which could be very beneficial if Kamara were to get hurt again. 

Scouting Report:

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/antonio-gibson?id=32194749-4241-5285-a215-d633ff9a6f70

 

Round 5 (169th Overall):

Clay Johnston LB Baylor

 

As mentioned earlier in this mock draft, our LB unit is looking very thin at the moment. Clay Johnston is coming off a knee injury last season, so I suspect he will drop a bit further than he should assuming he comes back to pre-injury form. He is a fun LB to watch as he attacks players like a heat seeking missile, and runs right through ball carriers when he hits them. He seemed to get better each season at Baylor, and was having a great senior season prior to suffering the knee injury. He likely wouldn't test nearly as well as Patrick Queen in combine drills, but Johnston does appear to have quality short area burst when he is chasing down ball carriers despite likely not having that great of top end speed. He strikes me as a player that could start out as a special teams ace early in his career, and develop into a solid LB as time goes on especially with him coming off the knee injury. 

Scouting Report:

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/clay-johnston?id=32194a4f-4880-4643-e839-9677436ad230

 

Round 6 (203rd Overall): BPA (I haven't looked at enough prospects to give much input on a player this late in the draft)

Edited April 3, 2020 by tyler735

[Canadian Saint]

So I really like the 1st two picks. I didn't know much on the WR, but if he can be like Deebo on the 49ers, I think he'd do great here.

I'm not sure on the last two picks. Michael has the tools, but like you said he's got limited tape. I know a 4th is rarely a likely thing, but I'd like someone with maybe a little more ceiling? Of course I could very (and often am) wrong, but it seems high for what Michael has shown.

Regarding Johnston sounds limited in terms of the current NFL. He doesn't seem fleet of foot and coming off a knee injury I can't imagine that will help his transition to the NFL. We've seen that in the new NFL you need to be able to move quickly. Not sure he's what we should be looking for.

Thanks for the mock. I really appreciate the effort.

Edited April 3, 2020 by Canadian Saint

[Orleanz]

I'd be happy with this. Good stuff