Saints Mock Draft's

[tyler735]

With the draft a day away, what are everyone's final mock drafts for the Saints looking like?

 

Here's my final mock draft (without trades):

 

• Round 1, pick 28: Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah

He fills a huge need at LB for us. Last season it looked like we had potentially filled this slot with Kwon Alexander, but unfortunately he had the achilles injury, which prematurely ended his time with the Saints. Jeremiah looks like he could fill a similar role with his excellent coverage skills and athleticism to get sideline to sideline. I'm not concerned about his size especially for the role I'd imagine we'd have him playing. I thought our defense was playing some of it's best football when we had Alexander on the field last season and think his injury hurt us quite a bit down the stretch.

One area that we've gotten killed at times in recent years is athletic TE's. Kittle and Waller games come to mind the past couple seasons. Rumor has it the Falcons will be drafting Pitts from Florida who is one of most freakish TE prospects to ever, would be nice to have a guy like Jeremiah to help lock a guy like that down in coverage.

 

• Round 2, pick 60: Kellen Mond

 

This pick may draw some negative reactions, but I really like his potential. It's no secret our current QB room has a lot of unanswered questions. I don't think Hill is ever going to be a legit starting QB. There's still some hope for Winston, but I don't want to put all my chips in on him this season as our QB of the future. If he turns his career around and looks like the the QB of the future, that's great, but I'm not convinced at this point.

With Mond, he has a bunch of starts under his belt playing 4 seasons in the SEC. He improved each season and this past year played a significant role in Texas A&M finishing near the top of the college football standings. His stats weren't as pretty as some of the other prospects, but I'd argue he wasn't surrounded by nearly as much talent as most of the other top QB's in the draft (or in Lance and Wilson's cases played against much worse competition). That said, he still found ways to lead his team to wins. He played some of his best games against the best teams in the country (Alabama, LSU, Clemson come to mind) throughout his career at Texas A&M. He was also MVP of the Senior Bowl and looked really solid there.

He has all the arm talent you'd hope for to make every throw. Ball explodes out of his hand even when he can't set his feet. Has shown he can make nice accurate tight window throws. He has the athleticism to make plays big with his feet and has shown he can extend plays and keep his eyes down field to find the open receiver. The more I looked into him as a prospect the more I liked him. He really seems like a student of the game after watching several interviews of his the past few months. I was also impressed to see him go an unconventional route for his pro day. Rather than hiring someone to lead his pro day like many top QB's do. He took the initiative and coordinated everything himself.

 

• Round 3, pick 98: Asante Samuel Jr

 

We have another big need at CB. Samuel's draft projection has been all over the place. I could see his stock drop a bit just based off of his "lack" of size/athleticism compared to other CB's in this class. For us, I think that is a win if he falls a bit, and honestly wouldn't mind us trading up in the 3rd round if he starts sliding in the draft (I'm sure we could trade pick 98 and a 2022 mid round pick to move up to get him). He excels in man coverage and plays much more physical in the run game than his size would indicate. Seems to be quicker than he is fast and seems to accelerate up to speed very quickly. Think he could be a solid #2 CB for us.

• Round 3, pick 105: Anthony Schwartz

 

At WR we don't really have a burner deep threat other than Harris on the roster. I really like Harris and hope his role continues to grow in our offense as he is special with the ball in his hands in the open field, but he doesn't have the same level top end speed as Schwartz. I don't believe there is a faster player than Schwartz in the NFL. He is a bit of a track star turned football player that still leaves some to be desired with his game. Dropped passes, sloppy routes, etc. With guys like Winston (and Mond in this mock draft) who can launch deep balls, we now have the ability to utilize a deep ball WR like this. I don't envision Schwartz as a 1,000 yard WR, but I think he can be a modern version of what Devery Henderson was for us. Schwartz's impact would go beyond stats as teams would have to always account for his speed with some safety help over the top or he will burn teams deep. This should open things up underneath for our main playmakers in Kamara/Thomas. I like the potential that Callaway showed last season and hope he steps into that #2 WR role this season to see what he can do.

 

• Round 4, pick 133: Jaret Patterson

Latavius Murray is getting up in age, so I think we look at finding a new #2 RB to groom in these mid to late rounds. Patterson has a much different profile than Murray, but I think he could be a good value here at the end of the 4th round. I see some similarities to a guy like Maurice Jones-Drew with Patterson with their short compact frames. Patterson despite his size bounces of a lot of tackles and has the balance and quickness to make plays after contact. He had some games with absolutely ridiculous video game type numbers and at this point I'd be happy to see how he'd do in our system. He didn't provide much in the receuving game in college, but I don't know if that was just system or lack of ability. 

 

• Round 6, pick 218: Kylen Granson

 

 

I think Payton will want to have another TE on the roster with us moving on from Cook. I liked what I saw from Trautman last season and think he will be our #1 TE, but it seems Payton likes to have an athletic mismatch type on the roster as a TE. Granson seems to fit the bill for that. 

 

• Round 7, pick 229: BPA

 

• Round 7, pick 255: BPA

 

All bets are off if a guy like Mac Jones (or one of the other top QB's) starts sliding in the 1st round. Have a feeling Payton really wants Jones and if the 49ers don't draft Jones, I could see him sliding to the 8-15 range in the 1st round, which puts him in a more realistic position for a trade up.

Edited April 29, 2021 by tyler735