Our offense was first in the league last year and has basically lost no one. Why on earth would we need to draft anyone on that side of the ball except maybe a backup OL in the later rounds?

That's a good point; now let me offer three counter points...

First, if a young Jerry Rice fell to No. 32 would you draft him even with a WR corps of Colston, Henderson, Meachem, Moore, et al?

Second, as someone has alluded, depth is a common quality to all championship clubs...

Third, the Saints are going to have a big target on their back this year; with that, teams will have more Saints footage than any other this coming season; so why not have an extraordinary talent added to the game planning to give that extra look to defenses?

I would be more than happy to drastically improve the front seven on defense; but I even agree, you take the best player available...

Yes, you would take Jerry Rice if he were at 32, except for one little problem. The Draft is a crapshoot, so even someone you think may be a can't miss could wind up being a bust, so you play the odds and take the BPA at a position of need.

Second, where are we lacking depth on offense? LT, nope we have 4 quality guys who have all started, HB? Nope, all set there with Thomas, Bush, Bell, Hamilton, WR? We have too many guys as it is. Arrington can't even make the team. TE? Shockey, Thomas, Dinkins I guess we could upgrade there with Greshem out of OK, OG & C? I guess we could upgrade there as well with depth, but is there really a Guard Center that would be that high of a value in completely stack DL draft? Doubtful

Third, who exactly is this EXTRAORDIANRY talent that we can add that is so can't miss but still is going to drop to #32?

I'm sorry guys, you can play devil's advocate all you want, but I have seen more drafts and mock drafts than I care to admit, and I spend way too much time on it. We are picking a defender with the first pick. We just are.

Does this mean the Saints will draft Mr Irrelevent.

And I hope we begin to get the defense shored up staring in Round 1 as well; the best player argument is that you can always draft 'em, make sure of 'em, then trade another player at that position for another player or draft pick...

Note...in interviews with Bill Walsh when he saw Rice being passed over, he questioned the logic of some of these teams who said they needed a DL, LT, RB when he saw a great player falling through the draft; in my book, as much as I hated the 49'ers, Walsh was an excellent talent evaluator and argued that you took BPA over Need...

But it's all good if we continue to disagree...