The Saints and the Art (and Madness) of Trading Up in the Draft

Attached Thumbnails · 08-24-2022, 11:37 AM

No one trades up in the draft more than New Orleans, who seem hell-bent on pursuing short-term results at the expense of a long-term plan. Will the wheels ever fall off? Or is this front office actually on to something?

I get tired just thinking about the New Orleans Saints. I wish they would chill out, if only for one second.

For what seems like forever, New Orleans has walked the tight rope between shrewd and reckless. When it comes to cap management and the utilization of their draft capital, they employ a win-now-and-worry-about-the-future-later strategy to go all in every year. When longtime football czar Sean Payton stepped down in January, though, the franchise was handed a chance to hit the reset button and take a breath after years and years of making seemingly unsustainable future-mortgaging moves. Instead, the team’s brain trust, headed up by GM Mickey Loomis, looked at a roster that earned an initial win total over/under of 7.5 from Vegas bookmakers and decided to push all their chips in anyway.

After re-upping or restructuring most of their key starters from last year and making a targeted free agency push, the Saints doubled down on 2022 and sent a package of future picks to the Eagles in an early-April blockbuster trade, acquiring a second first-round pick in the draft (giving them nos. 16 and 19). Not yet finished, the Saints then gave up a handful more picks to the Commanders on draft night to move up an additional five spots, selecting Ohio State receiver Chris Olave at no. 11. Combining the team’s pre-draft and draft-day trades, the Saints essentially gave up five picks to select Olave: two 2022 third-rounders, a 2022 fourth-rounder, a 2023 first-rounder, and a 2024 second-rounder. That’s an absurd amount of draft capital for a team to surrender for any one player. And it’s especially true when that player is not a quarterback.

The Saints approach drafting with the belief that one elite player is worth far more than a bunch of role players. As Loomis said after the draft, “I wouldn’t say that volume is a priority for us. I think quality is a priority for us.”

I could point to dozens of examples of the type of quality he’s referencing here, franchise-changing players who are worth going big on to acquire. But we needn’t look back further than last year, when the Bengals took Ja’Marr Chase at no. 5 overall. There was much hand-wringing at the time about whether Chase was a better overall value to the team than a guy like offensive tackle Penei Sewell, but it didn’t take the former LSU pass catcher long to silence those arguments. Chase caught 81 passes for 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns as a rookie, immediately establishing himself as an elite receiver while helping to elevate the entire Bengals offense. Chase’s ability to win both deep down the field and as a run-after-the-catch creator more or less canceled out the fact that Cincy’s offensive line was one of the worst in the NFL. Who needs a left tackle when you have a great receiver?

That’s the bet that the Saints are making with Olave, who, while stylistically very different from Chase, brings what New Orleans undoubtedly imagines as a similar field-tilting ability to the team’s offense.

more here

iceshack149 · 08-24-2022, 02:29 PM

That was a good read. Thanks Smash.

Rugby Saint II · 09-04-2022, 01:25 PM

We consistently have one of the strongest rosters in the league year in and year out. Still, there is always someone who thinks it should be done differently.

Our quality over quantity attitude towards draft picks has been highly successful under this regime and I am sure most teams would kill to have our roster of starters as well as our backup/depth players, and that's without even mentioning our "special" special teams.

08-24-2022, 11:37 AM	#1
Threaded by SmashMouth I donated, did you? Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Mandeville, LA Posts: 38,125 Blog Entries: 29 Rating: (0 votes - average) No one trades up in the draft more than New Orleans, who seem hell-bent on pursuing short-term results at the expense of a long-term plan. Will the wheels ever fall off? Or is this front office actually on to something? I get tired just thinking about the New Orleans Saints. I wish they would chill out, if only for one second. For what seems like forever, New Orleans has walked the tight rope between shrewd and reckless. When it comes to cap management and the utilization of their draft capital, they employ a win-now-and-worry-about-the-future-later strategy to go all in every year. When longtime football czar Sean Payton stepped down in January, though, the franchise was handed a chance to hit the reset button and take a breath after years and years of making seemingly unsustainable future-mortgaging moves. Instead, the team’s brain trust, headed up by GM Mickey Loomis, looked at a roster that earned an initial win total over/under of 7.5 from Vegas bookmakers and decided to push all their chips in anyway. After re-upping or restructuring most of their key starters from last year and making a targeted free agency push, the Saints doubled down on 2022 and sent a package of future picks to the Eagles in an early-April blockbuster trade, acquiring a second first-round pick in the draft (giving them nos. 16 and 19). Not yet finished, the Saints then gave up a handful more picks to the Commanders on draft night to move up an additional five spots, selecting Ohio State receiver Chris Olave at no. 11. Combining the team’s pre-draft and draft-day trades, the Saints essentially gave up five picks to select Olave: two 2022 third-rounders, a 2022 fourth-rounder, a 2023 first-rounder, and a 2024 second-rounder. That’s an absurd amount of draft capital for a team to surrender for any one player. And it’s especially true when that player is not a quarterback. The Saints approach drafting with the belief that one elite player is worth far more than a bunch of role players. As Loomis said after the draft, “I wouldn’t say that volume is a priority for us. I think quality is a priority for us.” I could point to dozens of examples of the type of quality he’s referencing here, franchise-changing players who are worth going big on to acquire. But we needn’t look back further than last year, when the Bengals took Ja’Marr Chase at no. 5 overall. There was much hand-wringing at the time about whether Chase was a better overall value to the team than a guy like offensive tackle Penei Sewell, but it didn’t take the former LSU pass catcher long to silence those arguments. Chase caught 81 passes for 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns as a rookie, immediately establishing himself as an elite receiver while helping to elevate the entire Bengals offense. Chase’s ability to win both deep down the field and as a run-after-the-catch creator more or less canceled out the fact that Cincy’s offensive line was one of the worst in the NFL. Who needs a left tackle when you have a great receiver? That’s the bet that the Saints are making with Olave, who, while stylistically very different from Chase, brings what New Orleans undoubtedly imagines as a similar field-tilting ability to the team’s offense. more here Attached Thumbnails iceshack149, AsylumGuido and Rugby Saint II like this.
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08-24-2022, 02:29 PM	#2
iceshack149 1000 Posts + Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Fairbanks, AK Posts: 4,258 Blog Entries: 1	Re: The Saints and the Art (and Madness) of Trading Up in the Draft That was a good read. Thanks Smash. SmashMouth and Rugby Saint II like this.

09-04-2022, 01:25 PM	#3
Rugby Saint II Bounty Money $$$ Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 5800 Airline Dr. Metairie, LA. Posts: 24,052	Re: The Saints and the Art (and Madness) of Trading Up in the Draft We consistently have one of the strongest rosters in the league year in and year out. Still, there is always someone who thinks it should be done differently. Our quality over quantity attitude towards draft picks has been highly successful under this regime and I am sure most teams would kill to have our roster of starters as well as our backup/depth players, and that's without even mentioning our "special" special teams. iceshack149 and SmashMouth like this.

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