Sean Payton recaps the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft
 

Opening Statement

“We finished up. I said earlier I thought the round would go fairly quick. Obviously there were a few trades, just a handful of things maybe and yet things progressed well. We are fired up about our selection. (Sheldon Rankins) He is someone (we liked) just through the process, the senior bowl and (his) college career. We have a good relationship with the coaching staff there and it’s an area that we feel like we can help our defense significantly. He is a guy that we would check off as a pressure player. He gives you a pass rush ability from the inside and you see that quite a bit on tape. (His) Makeup is fantastic and it’s nice that he was a former Falcons fan. Any questions.”

Did you get any more calls than normal for your pick this year?

“No, in fact as the tackle dropped from Ole Miss one of the reasons we waited was just to see if anyone was going to move up. I don’t think we got any calls and that wasn’t surprising. There was this initial group of players and there were probably a normal amount of trades. Time wise I don’t know how it compared to others, but it was fairly smooth.”



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Re: Sean Payton recaps the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft
 

Until I read this article I thought we might double dip at DT. But now I get the feeling we'll spend that draft pick at another position of need. Possibly DE in the second and then OG in the third round. I don't want to wait too late in the draft to take a critical part of our O-line. This player needs to step in and step up right away. He must be ready to start when he hits training camp.

Re: Sean Payton recaps the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft
 

O-Line is the least of our worries; Payton or whoever is scouting the O-Line know their players. We are always able to draft stud linemen, ex: Armstead in the 3rd, Jahri Evans in the 4th, Zach Strief in the 7th...

Re: Sean Payton recaps the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft
 

I'll be watching hockey now.