SmashMouth

New Orleans Saints: C+

Top needs: WR, CB, LB

New Orleans went 12-4 last season but lost a slew of free agents because of salary-cap issues, including Trey Hendrickson, Jared Cook, Emmanuel Sanders and Sheldon Rankins. Oh, and future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees retired. So this is a team in a different situation than it has been in the last few years, with Taysom Hill and Jameis Winston going to battle it out to replace Brees and some significant depth issues on its roster.

I like Payton Turner (28), but I would have liked him more in Round 2. There were wide receivers and corners on the board who could have made a bigger Year 1 impact than Turner, who is better against the run and is still developing as a pass-rusher. I don't see him as a starter over Cam Jordan or Marcus Davenport.

Linebacker Pete Werner (60), though, has a chance to be the starting middle linebacker in New Orleans. He locked down Penn State's Pat Freiermuth in coverage, and he has some range. Paulson Adebo (76) is a 6-foot-1 corner who opted out of last season. He has an inconsistent 2019 season, but he has top-50 traits. Sean Payton & Co. took quarterback Ian Book (133) on Day 3, and I had a seventh-round grade on him. I would have taken Jamie Newman. Book's ceiling is as a backup.
That's a lot of reaches on my board and not much value, from Rounds 1-7. And they didn't take a receiver until late on Day 3.

Sorry, Saints fans -- I don't love this class.

ChrisXVI

We really blew it.

rezburna

The fact Kiper doesn’t like the class makes me think it might be better than I thought.

SmashMouth

Has anyone ever given Kiper a taste of his own medicine with his picks?

Oh wait... (Every NFL Team’s Draft Pick that Mel Kiper was ACTUALLY RIGHT About)

WW_Who_Dat

Ole military saying “Improvise Adapt and Overcome”. All battle plans work until the first shot is fired.

AsylumGuido

Grading drafts is idiotic. What do you base your grade upon? Upon YOUR rankings and what YOU see as a teams needs. What if your rankings suck? What if you do not understand what the team sees as its needs?

A crock of crap.

Teams eliminate players from their boards based upon many factors. The players that they do target have been targeted after tons of research into that individual.

AsylumGuido

Blew it right outta the park!

neugey

Kiper and most of the experts overemphasize "need" on these draft critiques. But "need" won't mean much once the season starts. One or two key injuries and a team's need will shift radically.

AsylumGuido

Another thing these "experts" like Todd Kiper and Mel McShay fail to take into consideration is that these teams eliminate a very large percentage of prospects from their board for a variety of reasons. Good teams like the Saints look for the best of qualities and avoid what they consider as red flags. They also have a FAR better idea of what they see as their needs than the media hacks.

K Major

I'm not even sure there was a "draft expert" before Mel K Jr. Now all of the networks have at least 2 or 3. I've never taken his opinions on players seriously, but I do applaud him for having a hustle that has lasted this long.

Basically, he created his own niche.