Saints plan to be patient in NFL draft

QBREES9 · 04-18-2010, 02:14 PM

BATON ROUGE — You may have to stay up past 10 p.m. to see it, but the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints could make Texas Christian University linebacker Daryl Washington their first pick in the newfangled NFL Draft with the 32nd and last pick of the first round Thursday night.

The new draft, which used to be held on a Saturday and Sunday in April, will be stretched out over two nights and one day and televised in prime time for the first time in league history. It all starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on ESPN with the first round only that is scheduled to run until 10 p.m. Pre-draft coverage begins at 2 p.m. Thursday on ESPN.

The second and third rounds will be televised live on ESPN beginning at 5 p.m. Friday and running through 9:30 p.m. The fourth through seventh rounds on ESPN will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday.

"Looking forward to the new draft format," said Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, who has coordinated the good and bad of the last eight Saints' drafts, Thursday at a press conference at the club's facility in Metairie.

"I think it will be interesting. It will be interesting for me. It will be interesting for you guys to see how the process is impacted by this new schedule," Loomis said. "I think we have a few ideas of what could happen, but until we live through it once, we don't know."

ESPN analyst and former Tampa Bay Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden likes the idea of one night reserved for the critical and expensive first round instead of the first and second rounds on the Saturday and the last five on the Sunday as in the past.

"The way it was, it felt like three weeks at the end of the day," he said. "With what's at stake, it's good to take a break after the first round and reconvene in the morning after they've had a chance to think things over. I don't think it will be dramatically different until the first round is over. You might see more trades to start the second round. I think you'll see a little more aggressiveness."

The Saints may spend most of the first two days waiting as they will likely not pick until nearly 10 p.m. on Thursday and well into the night on Friday with the 64th pick of the second round and the 95th pick of the third round. They have fourth, sixth and seventh round picks (130th, 201st and 239th) on Saturday. They traded their fifth round pick last year to Philadelphia to go up in the fifth round and nabbed punter Thomas Morstead.

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04-18-2010, 02:14 PM	#1
QBREES9 Moderator Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: New Haven Ct Posts: 23,982	Saints plan to be patient in NFL draft BATON ROUGE — You may have to stay up past 10 p.m. to see it, but the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints could make Texas Christian University linebacker Daryl Washington their first pick in the newfangled NFL Draft with the 32nd and last pick of the first round Thursday night. The new draft, which used to be held on a Saturday and Sunday in April, will be stretched out over two nights and one day and televised in prime time for the first time in league history. It all starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on ESPN with the first round only that is scheduled to run until 10 p.m. Pre-draft coverage begins at 2 p.m. Thursday on ESPN. The second and third rounds will be televised live on ESPN beginning at 5 p.m. Friday and running through 9:30 p.m. The fourth through seventh rounds on ESPN will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday. "Looking forward to the new draft format," said Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, who has coordinated the good and bad of the last eight Saints' drafts, Thursday at a press conference at the club's facility in Metairie. "I think it will be interesting. It will be interesting for me. It will be interesting for you guys to see how the process is impacted by this new schedule," Loomis said. "I think we have a few ideas of what could happen, but until we live through it once, we don't know." ESPN analyst and former Tampa Bay Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden likes the idea of one night reserved for the critical and expensive first round instead of the first and second rounds on the Saturday and the last five on the Sunday as in the past. "The way it was, it felt like three weeks at the end of the day," he said. "With what's at stake, it's good to take a break after the first round and reconvene in the morning after they've had a chance to think things over. I don't think it will be dramatically different until the first round is over. You might see more trades to start the second round. I think you'll see a little more aggressiveness." The Saints may spend most of the first two days waiting as they will likely not pick until nearly 10 p.m. on Thursday and well into the night on Friday with the 64th pick of the second round and the 95th pick of the third round. They have fourth, sixth and seventh round picks (130th, 201st and 239th) on Saturday. They traded their fifth round pick last year to Philadelphia to go up in the fifth round and nabbed punter Thomas Morstead. Saints plan to be patient in NFL draft \| theadvertiser.com \| The Advertiser
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