What are you most pleased with about this draft?
 

For me I don't know where to start. I really get the giggles because we're still under the radar. I will start with our wrs. What team can cover, Colston, Mcknight, Meachem, Henderson, Patten? Then throw in Robert Johnson, I personally think this guy will Rock. Then throw in Reggie, Duece. HOLY Shiites. Unleash Hell or an ant bed fire drill.

This rarely happens to me but the Saints finally got somebody I really wanted, Eugene Lipscomb. Anybody know who Eugene was? That's right, Eugene is back and in the body of Walter Thomas. Reincarnation? They both seem to have had simular backgrounds.That's right Big Daddy is back and in a Saints uniform and I'm pleased.

What are you pleased about?

The one thing that sticks out to me with this draft is, within the next two years we will have the most dominant offensive line in the whole NFL. We will have the most unstoppable offense in the NFL, and the way they're finding little gems here and there on the defense and special teams, we will be the Patriots of the NFC.

I agree and am certainly pleased to see us continually upgrading and adding depth to our O line. I am a believer in starting with the trenches to upgrade teams and we are certainly operating in that manner.

I'm pleased that most everyone thinks that the draft didn't completely suck. I for one think that we could have used some draft picks on Linebackers, DT's, big school corners, hell, even move up in the draft to take a talent instead of collecting a bunch of purely developmental quality players. Not that there isn't the possibility of a Colston coming out of this group, but not likely. I think it's easier to run a route and catch a pass than it is to defend, and defense is where the team's greatest need was/is and I'm suspicious that we wasted picks on guys we could have invited in as UDFA's.

They just don't see it, they're building for the future, if previous powers that was thought that way we problably be SB CHAMPS by now, keep the faith BR we're closer than most people think.

Well, the fact that the Saints found 2 CBs with good size and 4.4 speed makes me happy. The only thing these guys lack is technique and the Saints coaches pride themselves on being great teachers. So finally some youth at CB. I like the fact that we keep stockpiling players for the O-Line...because you can never have enough players there. And the Saints still found ways to upgrade skill positions. They were able to prepare themselves for possible FA departures next year...Great job.

LBs lets see, we picked up Brian Simmons 6'3/240 who will probably start, Troy Evans 6'3/238, Trev Faulk 6'3/254, and Marvin Mitchell 6'3/249. Now put that with the mix of Fujita, Shanle, I mean this is pretty solid to me.

My EXACT same concern.

Drew must be frothing at the offensive juggernaut he has now to utilize. Payton and his scouting support have done themselves a favor in this draft. I can't pick out what I'm most pleased with even when convention would've told me they bombed because of the lack of DB focus early on.
I'm being warned not to get too jacked about the potential of this team but holy crow, even without the convenience of their typical yearly top 10 pick, they did damn good knowing what could improve the longevity of the team.
I'd feel a little more comfortable if they address their backup QB situation, but other than that, they are gold.

Alleman. He's going to be a solid guard for us.

As far as the QB situation goes, i think Payton likes the challenge of developing Tyler Palko. He's another guy with all the skills, just needs to learn to be more patient in the pocket and make better decisions. And i would feel more comfortable at the end of this season when the Saints go out and sign a veteran to come in and be the backup as opposed to a 2nd year guy with no experience.

I would also have like to have seen a quality DT added and I think there were some available at some of our picks. But as far as LB goes, this was not a deep draft and the talent and value just wasnt there for us to grab anyone. I think the point of this draft and the guys that we took is that at the time there weren't many players on the board (except maybe the first round) that would have come in and contributed as a starter immediately. So even though the lineman are developmental, as a backup, you are looking for 10 blows a game to keep your starters fresh. In the meantime, these guys are contributing and still being developed. The same with the corners. None of the guys we would have draft are going to start over McKenzie or David and probably wont outplay Thomas or Craft for nickelback. So your best bet there very well might be to get the guys with the huge upside but that need to be developed because early on all you are looking for out of them is special teams play (gunners, etc.)

Also, I have to disagree with the WR being easier than LB and DT coming out of college. There is a reason that WR usually have that "3 year" development until they reach their potential and the same reason that rookie WRs dont make huge impacts in their first seasons. The learning curve, talent gap, jump, and speed of the game is extremely difficult for WRs in transitioning from college to NFL. On the other hand, you do see LBs tend to fair better because they can be put on the field and still managed to make plays without truly understanding the nuances and complications of the game. The same with DTs. They simply need to understand gap assignments rather than recognizing coverages, blitzes, and hot routes.

Right on. D as a whole is easier than offense. Defenders are largely there to react to the game. Sure there are zone blitzes and different coverage packages, but it's nothing compared to the intricacies of an NFL offense.

I'm really pleased with drafting Usama Young. After reading his scouting reports, I think he may be the biggest pick-up of the draft. He's smart: Academic All American, He's Fast: Sub 4.4 - 40, and he started all 4 years. That (starting) is a big deal when it comes to making The Leap. That's why I'm not very high on Mr. Walt T. He's got 2 JuCo games under his belt, and this is the NFL.

During the draft, I want to say that Kiper or Mortensen spat out some stat about the success rate of players being reciprocal of their experience. That guys who have started 4 years have the highest success rate.

Missile, I wholeheartedly agree that DT is way easier to play than CB. I played NT in high school ball (cue the Springstein) and your two biggest assets are size and strength (I had neither). Smarts comes in about 42 on that list. But I'm really talking about the leap to the NFL. It's way more than just bigger, stronger and faster. It's also about money and fame and how you handle it. It's about listening to your coaches, learning and improving. How you interact with your team. Sunday night in the Dome is a long way away from NWMCC.

IMHO, we're selling Young short when he has all the measurables (speed, agility, okay size, expirience) and the non-measurables (charachter, brains) and jumping up and down for a guy who is really big and not much else.

Don't get me wrong, I hope that Mr Walt T turns out to be the stud we all know he can be, but I want the same from Alleman, Meacham, Young, Bushrod (great name), Pittman and all of the new guys.

... that we picked 27th.

Thunder Road, hold tight

I agree. As a fellow trench man myself snot nocking was the key. We danced around very little. swing to the left, swing to the right, with a stutter step thown in here and there. Left all the Travoltas moves to the glory boys.

And...
 

Let's not forget that picks from this draft were used wisely to fill needs before the draft even started. I personally like the idea that we could afford to take people with alot of upside simply because most of our needs were already filled.

The best move of the draft, 4th round pick Jason David CB, Indianapolis Colts.

The thing that sticks out to me is how well we did with solid players and sleepers. We upgraded our secondary with a possib;e starter talent in Usama Young, and a very interesting prospect with ballhawking skills in David Jones, as well as spending a 4th on Jason David. We are really going to be unstoppable on Offense for years to come. The way Payton has built this Offense, he should never want to leave.

We picked up some very good OL man, who may be steals at the spots they were taken. They seem happy to play for us and is mean slap you around type Lineman. One thing is for sure, we have alot of waking up to do

Eugene Lipscomb now now lets not put to much pressure on the kid.

You can't use the "small School" "No Talent" excuse because many a great player have come from small JuCos it doesn't matter what college they went to, if they have the ability they have it, and the oppposite is true a good player from a powerhouse school fail more often because they were in a system with other players equal or better than they are. A corner from Tenn. is more likely to have been helped out by safties and good coaching than a corner from Kent who could have been the best defensive player on his team. We will just have to sit and watch and next year we can make our draft assessment. After last year's draft most people said "Well The got Reggie so it was a pretty good draft. The rest of the players were drafted just to allow for the Reggie Signing. None of them will start in '06. Well 5 of the 8 players draft started at least one game, ON THE NFC SOUTH CHAMPIONS!

Kent State is D1A. Last year they played Minnesota and VaTech plus their MAC conference schedule. It's not the SEC, but we're not talking about Millsaps either.

At first glance, of the guys Young played against last year, these two were drafted:

Ryne Robinson WR MIAMI (OHIO) 4 19(118) Carolina
David Clowney WR VIRGINIA TECH 5 20(157) Green Bay

You are correct. Just as hard as it is to make the transition to NFL for a WR, its just as hard if not harder for CBs. Where I think that Young especially and Jones as well have more potential thatn Jon Wade, I agree that the learning curve will be much more for them. In Wade's case, you also have to consider not only the guys he faced this season but in season's past. Its not unrealistic to say that a guy who has played 4 years for an SEC school could have possibly faced 10 NFL starters or regular contributers at wideout. Thus, I think if you are looking for someone who can come in on defense immediately and be able to contribute either in a partial/split time role or as a nickel back, you are better off drafting a big school player. However, we drafted our CBs this season based on potential and Young and Jones potential is much greater than Wades. No corner we drafted was cracking the starting lineup and probably not the nickel or even dime back cases either. They may get some spot duty here and there and will be expected to contribute on special teams. In the mean time, you will be grooming them and instead of them facing Bowe, and Rice and Davis in college practice, they will be facing Colston, MEachem, Patten. Also they will have the guidance of Frddy T, Craft, McKenzie which will also be big for them catching the learning curve.

Thus, with some big school prospects, you can argue that because they played against so much good competition, that while they are battle tested and likely more NFL ready, you might never get any more out of them than you already have. These small school guys havent played against that type of competition so you dont know what the possibilities are. I would have rather selected Wade or Bennett or another corner from a strong conference with one of the CB picks that way we have a guy who is battle tested and played against the best in case we do need him to contribute a fair amount of defensive snaps during the season and one CB who is more of a project but whose upside is limitless. But it is what it is.

Not putting any pressure on the kid but he sure could be. Then I was kinda referring to their background being somewhat simular. I'm really pulling for this guy.

If you have the speed,moves and the heart to compete the rest can be taught. These guys have the chance of a lifetime,it just depends on how much heart they have and how bad they want it.

You can make the case that big school prospects are just products of their 'system' as much as small school players were men among boys. I understand that the SEC is so tough that the '72 Dolphins would have gone 7-9 playing in there, but I know I watched Florida beat up on my alma mater Southern Miss, which is nowhere near a top flight school as far as talent goes. Big schools love to rack up huge numbers against creampuff schedules. Anyone can turn one stat to mean anything they want. It doesn't matter what school they played for, it's what they do when they hit the big time that really counts.

I think Young is one of the best sleepers in the draft and might turn into a shutdown corner given the proper coaching. We have two starters in McKenzie and now David, along with Craft and Freddy T still in the mix to fight for the nickel and dime spots. We can afford to take a guy that needs a year or two of seasoning and who can transition into the lineup when McKenzie hits the downslope of his career. I'm pretty excited with this draft. We had the luxury to take the best players available without worrying about need, and when was the last time the Saints have ever been able to draft that way? Not many teams are going to be able to handle the offensive juggernaut we're building. Brees, Deuce, Reggie, Pittman, Colston, Henderson, Meachem, Johnson, and a very solid line that is just going to get better... need I go on? We gave them fits last year, next year we might get an honest to God forfeit.

Well put post NH, you toke the words out of my mouth

we went into the draft with very little press. I like that. tight lipped. We did not come close to tipping our hand.