Saintswrath

With 40 days until the NFL Draft fans and analysts alike are pouring over game film trying to align players with teams. As we visiting in my last article (Sean Payton’s Draft Tendencies), Sean Payton likes to draft the skill positions early. The Saints are coming into the draft needing help at a few crucial positions. They need a WR. Marques Colston has been a stud for many years, and still has some gas left in the tank, but his best days are behind him. Kenny Stills showed a lot of promise last year, but in the Saints offense there is need for more than two wide receivers. Other needs lay on the offensive line. Will the Saints draft a center? What about Strief’s potential replacement at right tackle?

On the defensive side of the ball, there are always needs. No matter how good a position is, you cannot have too much depth. Releasing Jabari Greer, Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins, Will Smith, and Jonathan Vilma made the team younger but also freed up room and created some positions of need. The Saints also lost a couple of players to free agency. The Saints defense received a big gift from Mickey Loomis this offseason by adding Jairus Byrd to the safety rotation. According to Bleacher Report’s safety rankings the Saints now possess the rank 12 (Rafeal Bush), rank 6 (Jairus Byrd) and rank 5 (Kenny Vaccaro) safeties in the NFL. Not too shabby.

But, at cornerback, there is still a wide open #2 slot waiting for a player to take the lead. The front runners are Corey White and Patrick Robinson, but I also believe the Saints will address this position in the draft. Jaylen Watkins, the older brother of Sammy, is a versatile DB out of Florida. For the past two years at Florida he has alternated between playing both corner and safety, covering receivers in the slot and coming down to help in the run. This type of versatility is important on a defense run by the likes of Rob Ryan who uses multiple fronts. Playing in the SEC also meant covering WRs like LSU’s Odell Beckham, Jr and Jarvis Landry.

At the combine Watkins stood out to me for two things. His strength is impressive as he recorded 22 reps at 225 pounds. He displays this on the field as well, showing the ability to shed blocks muscle against larger WRs. Running a 4.41 showed his speed at the combine. Playing both corner and safety versus elite SEC talent showed it on the field. His measureables are good, but they aren’t great. He came in at 5’11 1/2 and 194 pounds.


Continue reading here: Watkins in a Saints Uniform? - TopSportsReport

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