I think in any draft you expect something for the immediate year contribution from your 1st round pick. After that you are hoping for a good learning curve and spot production from your 2nd rounder and beyond that it's a crapshoot whether any of the guys will even make the squad. No one goes into a draft counting on late round picks to be starters or even contribute first year. So with that said, I don't see how a poor grade can be relevant to a draft visibly intended for depth and project players. I think the intention here was to find smarter and better character players (although the Mitchell pick baffles me) and give them 2-3 years to develop if they show enough in camp. I'd rather have a few bodies that are desperate to make an impression and have the aptitude to develop than a guy who's just talented enough to stick around but may never mature into that next step (Devery Henderson is a good example of this so far).

As I've said before, the coaching staff's first year draft has earned them a pass this season and fans need to reserve judgement until the season plays out. If they had a history of failing experiments on small school players and a tendency to grasp at these guys then they deserve criticism. They can be objectively evaluated after this season and the free ride is over next draft if they picked 4 small school duds this year.

With a sophomore head coach like Payton, he is probably still trying to develope his style. True, he's had coaching expirience, but not at this level. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that Payton is still developing as a coach (scary, huh?). Different coaches look for different qualities in players at different positions. Payton may want a MLB with a nasty streak and figured Mitchell was worth a gamble in the 7th. Just a though.

Here is the thing guys...going into the draft, with our team and picking 27th, the only guy in the draft that the Saints had a shot at to come in a start from day 1 was Ben Grubbs. Every other player would have just added to our depth. That was what the Saints were looking for. I posted in another thread all the guys who will be FAs after this year and the Saints made moves to prevent future holes from opening up. How many starters for a 10-6 team do you think you are going to find picking 27th?? So of course the Saints took guys that they can teach and groom for down the road, because for the first time in a long time, they have that luxury.