WalterFootball Mock Draft....
 

First four rounds have the Saints picking;

2nd; New Orleans Saints: Mike Martin, DT/DE, Michigan

The Saints' leading sacker in 2011 was safety Roman Harper with 7.5. Will Smith will be 31 before the 2012 season, and New Orleans could use another edge rusher to pair with Cameron Jordan in the long term. The team also needs some help at defensive tackle. Shaun Rogers and Aubrayo Franklin are short-term players while Sedrick Ellis has dealt with frequent injuries in his career.

Martin (6-1, 307) is a powerful player with a relentless motor. He has some power and speed but doesn't produce as much as his skill set would suggest. At the Senior Bowl, Martin had a phenomenal week and was a standout in the one-on-ones and the team scrimmage. As a senior in 2011, Martin totaled 64 tackles with six tackles for a loss and 3.5 sacks. He had 2.5 sacks and six tackles for a loss in 2010. In the NFL, Martin could fit as a five-technique in a 3-4 defense as well as a 4-3 defensive tackle.

3rd; New Orleans Saints: Brandon Taylor, S, LSU
The Saints need to replace Roman Harper, and Taylor is a good value at the end of the second day.

Taylor had a strong season for the Tigers and entered the BCS Championship second on the team in tackles, behind only Tyrann Mathieu. Taylor benefited from having a lot of talented players around him, but the 6-foot, 194-pounder is a fast, physical playmaker in his own right. In 2011, Taylor amassed 71 tackles with 7.5 tackles for a loss, five passes broken up, one sack and two interceptions. He is a sleeper prospect who has the potential to be a solid pro.

At the Senior Bowl, Taylor did his part to not be a sleeper. He used his physicality and was a real presence. Taylor also has a lot of quickness to cover the deep part of the field.

4th;New Orleans Saints: Sean Spence, LB, Miami
The Saints need outside linebacker help, and Spence could be a good fit. He has idolized New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma and tried to mold his game off of the Saints Pro Bowler.

Spence is very undersized, but flies around the football field and makes plays. The 5-foot-11, 228-pounder is a fabulous athlete who is always around the ball. In 2010, he had 110 tackles with 16 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, six passes broken up, and one forced fumble. Spence has good instincts with a nose for the football. He was suspended for Miami's season opener against Maryland, and the Hurricanes really missed him.

Fortunately for Miami and Spence, his suspension was for only one game. He finished this year with 106 tackles with 14 tackles for a loss, three sacks and a forced fumble. Spence had an excellent performance against Georgia Tech and led the way for the Hurricanes to stuff the Yellow Jackets' option ground game. With his blazing speed, he would be a good fit as a Will (weakside) linebacker in a 4-3 defense.


WalterFootball.com: 2012 NFL Mock Draft - Charlie Campbell

Martin is undersized for a kind of a DT the Saints need in my opinion - he looks too much like Ellis did back in the day - it's one thing to push around college O-linemen and another to do the same in the NFL.

Especially this type of an assessment concerns me:



Somebody please tell me why the Saints need to replace Harper? And if they would need to, why not use A-Q to fill that need?

Looks like a solid group draft... though the last 4 or 5 Michigan lineman drafted high has been quite underwhelming to say the least.

I might as well get the generic answers out the way. He's old, has too much white hair, can't cover Ray Charles rolling down the field in a wheel chair, and Sam Bradford tackled him from behind.

I don't know if this is Walters or Charlie Campbells of Walters but on one of the 2 one had us picking a WR in round 2. BPA is usually how we go although Payton suprised us last year, I wish we had a high 2nd I would feel a little better.

Taylor would be a nice pick up if we get him.

Saints could actually fill a LB need by moving Roman Harper to WLB.

Harper is too small for a LB; I think...

Yeah, that wouldn't work.


...and Harper's only 29, so I would hardly call that old. And I know Papz that you were only repeating what has been said about him by lots of ignorant people, who seem to know very little about football.

The truth is that Harper is a pro bowl caliber SS and the Saints could've done a lot worse in that department. No player is perfect and Harper certainly has his weaknesses, but, nonetheless, he is a good safety. And more importantly with the contract he got last off-season - he won't be going anywhere for a while, so people should stop with the hating on him.

I would say no to moving Harper to WLB, to small. Although I would like a lb. like Harper with about 30 more pounds on him. I acually would like 2 more with Wilsons size and speed, that would be perfect.

6'-200 pound linebackers may work in college, but would get destroyed in the NFL.

And I don't know why you'd want to move a pro-bowl SS to another position that he's never played his entire life. Why not just sign a WLB and be done with it?

Why do people believe that Harper is a Pro Bowl SS? He's played LB in Nickel situations last season and most of his big plays come when he's closest to the LOS. You can be an undersized WLB. He can also get up to 225 and he'd do just fine. As long as he is still in the back half of the defense, the Saints will ALWAYS have the same problem.

I think most believe he's a pro-bowl SS because he was voted so by players and coaches to the Pro Bowl. We know it was as an alternate but to be selected twice is a pretty decent indicator that he doesn't suck.

Most SS's play close to the line of scrimmage, thats nothing new. Its the job of a Strong Safety.

Adding 25 lbs to a frame thats already maxed out isn't gonna work. It would be a completely unnatural 225 lbs if he could even do it.

He is what he is. He's a classic strong safety that patrols the intermediate section of the field, and does a great job of it. What he can't do is cover TE's with elite speed for very long so if there's no pass rush he'll be one of the 1st DB's to be thrown at (as would any true SS in the NFL).

Moving him to a position he has never played his entire life isn't wise. It would be like moving Robert Meachem to TE.

PFF graded him out as average at best. That's not my opinion though. I like him. It's the rest of the defense that needs to be addressed.

I agree. I do have a question about Jenkins at SS instead of FS and Quaddus taking the FS spot. How do you think that would go? For me I think Jenkins could cover TE's well, I just don't trust his tackling, Quaddus to me is one of the most natural free safetys I have seen in a long, long time. Just my thoughts!!

I like what I've seen from that Isa Abdul-Quddus kid as well.

If we went to a left-right safety scheme then Quddus (Ka-Deuce!!!) and Jenkins are probably our best tandem.

If we keep a Strong/Free safety tandem then Harper/Jenkins looks like our best tandem, with IA-Q bearing down on Jenkins.

I think Quaddus is right there with Jenkins and Jenkins knows it, it should be a lot of comp. in camp. An undrafted FA going against a #1 pick.

question to ask yourself is this :

Where was this kid during the season?

answer: not a self motivator, only looked good at the senior bowl when there is a payday to be had.

pass

as to the highjack question of harper. lmao give me a break aint going to work. harper will get smoked in the flats

I am with football CEO on this one. Harper needs to move or move out completely maybe if some other team values harper as much as some of you guys do we could get something out of a trade. Other wise if i were a coach I would not want he back there getting burned as exposed as he does. About all he is good for is blitzing the quarterback or run support that he does well but a cover guy or playmaker none of the above.

And I guess your willing to take that $17M cap hit in trading Harper and still be left without a starting SS?

I had an idea for Harper...Linebacker-backer. I guess it's a nickel, but we have three safeties and Harper stays on the fringes of the box. Better in coverage than an LB and better against the run and rushing the passer than a CB.

Thats basically the description of a Strong Safety isn't it? He patrols the intermediate area of the field right behind the LB's.

I'LL PATROL YOUR INTERMEDIATE AREA! ...I'm sorry.

http://smileys.on-my-web.com/reposit...ng/lol-020.gif

And your qualifications of knowing more about football than everybody else are??? If you want to believe Harper is a pro bowl SS, thats your opinion. One that I personally and a lot of other people more knowledgable than you or I do not agree with.

Oh, you really told me off...

I wasn't claiming that I'm some type of an authority when it comes to all things football, far from it. But what I do seem to be able to do better than some is to separate my feelings from the evaluation process and instead, I tend to rely on objective observation coupled with statistical evidence.

It is not about me wanting to believe that Harper is a pro-bowl SS - I don't have to rely on my imagination in this matter - because he has been selected to the pro-bowl twice (2009 & 2010). Consequently, that is all the evidence I need in order for it to be logical for me to call him a pro-bowl SS, because he has been one in the past and statistically the 2011 season was as good or even better than the 2009 season for Harper.

What I was referring to in my previous statement, which you took offence at, is that it seems to me that many don't seem to grasp the difference between a strong safety and a free safety. If you evaluate Harper's pass coverage abilities based on the belief that it is his responsibility to defend against long passes - then you're already starting from a point from which nothing worth while can be deduced.

Strong safety's primary job is to help out with the run defense, which is why he plays a lot closer to the line of scrimmage than a free safety, and his other primary job is to defend against passes to the tight end, which is why the SS lines up on the strong side hence the connotation - strong safety. At least this is my general understanding of that particular position and the primary duties associated with it.

I think it was Danno or someone else with access to the paid stat services, who stated that Harper in fact graded pretty well in TE pass coverage. And I think we all can agree that his run defense/pass rushing abilities are top notch when it comes to strong safeties. So all of this pretty much tells me that Harper is a good SS and even a pro-bowl level SS, which is why I criticized the common consensus that he isn't a good SS and that the Saints should do all they can to get rid of him.

I think that this shared (false) belief has its roots in some of the big plays of which Harper has been a part of and which have consequently made him look bad in people's eyes. I'm talking about the Seattle play-off game, the Bradford run, and some others, which have somehow erased to majority of the body of work that Harper has done - and done very well I might add.

So, I would like you to convince me with your seemingly vast knowledge of football why Harper isn't a pro-bowl SS and altogether a good SS? If there's something that I'm missing, I would honestly like to hear it and if your argument is compelling enough, I might even change my evaluation of Harper, but until then I hold on to it with valid justification.

Harpers main problem is when he plays bad, its butt-ugly bad.

You can count on 3 or maybe 4 stinkers from him every season, but the other 12 to 13 games he plays very well.

I have a feeling thats not much different than most NFL players.

Also, with a weak pass rush, and the emergence of TE's with WR speed, most SS's will be a primary target. They don't have CB speed to keep up with 4.4 TE's. Gregg's system helped Harper shine in many ways, but the lack of a pass rush didn't do Harper any favors at all in GW's system.

Overall I'd rate Harper about a B-plus player.

Second that Danno, how do you think he will work in Spags´system?

This is a very accurate assessment...

And while it is the commitment to continuity started by Coach Payton that has made the Saints the success they are today - I was thoroughly shocked to see the salary commitment made to Harper by the traditionally frugal Loomis-led Saints Front Office...

Harper has been exposed in memorable "stinkers" for his poor pass coverage/read abilities and while the player must ultimately make plays on the field, Coach Payton shares blame for putting too much faith in Gregg Williams' Buffoon Defense that has cost the Saints two playoff losses...

I was impressed that Coach Payton made a change in his staff a few years ago as I was used to Coaches (i.e. Mora) who'd stubbornly ignore the obvious to spite fans...

Coach Payton is loyal - but he is not going dampen the success of the team to spite out of pride even if fans may be right in seeing the obvious...

We hope that with the addition of Coaches Spagnuolo and Flajole that the defense can finally rise to a competitive level so as not to be an embarrassment or afterthought of the Saints...