It appears that the Saints will be selecting between 9th and 20th in the first round of the draft. They currently sit at #14 and as such, here are a few of the projections from various media: Brandon Spikes ILB / Florida William Moore FS / Missouri Brian Cushing LB / USC James Laurinaitis ILB / Ohio State Aaron Curry LB / Wake Forest Peria Jerry DT / Ole Miss The following weren't specifically projected for the Saints but may be available during the Saints' selection. Taylor Mays S / USC Vontae Davis CB / Illinois Rey Mauluga ILB / USC Malcolm Jenkins DB / Ohio State Tyson Jackson DE / LSU All 11 are defensive players and you know there will be a few QBs, OLs, and WRs taken early, so the Saints should have several of these guys available for their selection. If I recall correctly we gave up our second round choice in the Shockey trade. We need this pick to not only count but hopefully to produce early.
We are talking about the Saints. They'll draft another WR, TE, o-lineman, and spend very little on the defense.
Not totally fair. In the last five years, the Saints have used 8 Day One picks on defensive players, 5 on offense. The problem has been with who they've drafted, not the positions drafted: '04 - 1st round - DE Will Smith...starter, but overrated, IMO 2nd round - LB Courtney Watson....no longer in league '05 - 2nd Round - S Josh Bullocks.....showed promise in rookie year, bust since 3rd round - LB Alfred Fincher....never more than a special teamer, now with the Redskins '06 - 2nd round - S Roman Harper....see Josh Bullocks '07 - 2nd round - CB Usama Young....injured most of rookie year, jury's still out '08 - 1st round - DT Sedrick Ellis....so far, so good. Looks like a long-term solution in the middle. 2nd round - CB Tracy Porter....another promising rookie injured early. Fortunately, a wrist injury shouldn't hurt a CB's progress, you would think. There you go - 4 starters (5 if you count Porter); none of them have been difference makers.
Agree completely. I want to stay away from the line this year. I'd like to see them address outside linebacker, or strong safety most. Can't go wrong with a CB or FS, though. I'm very hopeful for Porter at one CB, but I think McKenzie's time is coming to an end. No way he can be a great player with all the injuries and his age.
So, 2 first round defensive picks in the last 5 years? Still not good, considering that is their weakness and has been for a while now. In 2007, they took Meachem. Why? They could have traded up for Reggie Nelson or Brandon Meriweather or they could have picked up Paul Posluszny instead. In 2006, they took Reggie Bush, who is a bust. He's a wimpy runner who runs out of bounds, can't run north south/always tries to sidestep everyone, and is injury prone. They could have traded down for Ernie Sims or Antoine Cromartie. They got lucky with Colston, and I think Deuce was their best selection in a long time. Who else have they drafted that has stuck around so long and been continually productive?
No, but you can't evaluate a draft just on first round selections. That's why I talked about Day One selections. Its reasonable to assume that anyone you get in the first 3 rounds should challenge for a starting job. After that, you're drafting for depth, or just training camp fodder, and maybe hoping to get lucky as we did with Colston and Jahri Evans. Agree that Meachem was a bad pick; thought so that day as well. But I was looking for Olsen from Miami rather than defense at that point. Most people thought Posluszny would have been a reach in the first round at that point; I guess the Saints did too. Here we must disagree. Maybe the Chargers, who have LT, would have passed on Reggie had they fallen into their laps like that, but no one else, and certainly not the Saints, who were desperate for a marquee player at the time. And Bush is not a bust when they are able to utilize him in a way that he can do the things he does best. He's not a between-the-tackles back, and the Saints are foolish to try and force him to be one. That's why, if Deuce is not brought back next year, getting a big back will be a high priority (though hopefully not with the number one pick). Agree on Deuce, agree on Colston. If we could get lucky in the 7th round like that with a linebacker or a safety, there wouldn't be much complaining about draft priorities, would there? The key word in your statement is "lucky."
No, I can't evaluate the entire draft based on the first round, but I can most certainly evaluate their mindset/priorities. Houston was also in need for a marque player, and everyone thought they were crazy when they passed on Bush. But they made a better choice by selecting Mario Williams instead. He had 4.5 sacks his rookie year, 14 his second, and currently has 11. What kind of consistency have we seen from Bush other than being hurt, arm tackled or returning punts? I imagine the guy is making LOADS of money, and he's not worth it. He's not a between that tackles back, nor is he an east/west back. He may get lucky breaking loose every now and then, but he is very ineffective running the ball. Again, he can catch swing passes, but he can't run (with blockers). He tries to side step everyone like he's Barry Sanders, and it doesn't work. Steve Slaton > Reggie Bush
Problem is Payton probably picks the defensive players and he just doesn't have the knack at picking them. He needs to get a legit DC to help him make these picks. Gibbs sucks.
Fox Sports list the Saints with the 4th highest payroll at $130+ million. Will Smith $12,950,000 Charles Grant $9,350,000 Marques Colston $7,453,360 Reggie Bush $7,053,960 Brian Young $5,900,000 Bobby McCray $5,700,000 Deuce McAllister $5,043,385 Drew Brees $5,000,000 Mark Brunell $4,745,000 Randall Gay $4,575,000 Jonathan Vilma $4,197,500 Mike McKenzie $4,125,000 Jamar Nesbit $3,800,000 Jonathan Goodwin $3,500,000 Jason David $3,100,000 David Patten $3,000,000 Jeremy Shockey $2,425,000 Sedrick Ellis $2,236,000 Mark Simoneau $2,180,000 Scott Fujita $2,153,120 Devery Henderson $2,000,000 Jon Stinchcomb $2,000,000 Robert Meachem $1,986,020 The Saints will need to unload some of these guys or restructure several contracts if they want to play in free agency. Without a 2nd round draft pick, they'll have to go after a few FAs if they want to get better on defense. The injuries have definitely played a part but this team just doesn't have enough talent to make a playoff run without going outside the draft next year. That's a lot of money on the DL, backup QB, secondary, and seldom used WRs. Gay and Vilma were good investments but it may be time for McKenzie, David, Meachem and/or Henderson, and a few others to be released or traded.
