Considering that someone like Derek Wolfe went as high as immediately at the beginning of the 2nd round, the FO might've been hesitant to gamble on Hicks being available in later rounds. And if it's true what they said, that Hicks was on top of their board as the BPA when they were picking, then picking him where they did wasn't a reach in any sense of the word. Also, I've seen draft evaluations where Hicks was a late 3rd to middle 4th prospect.

I think that Hicks will be a better player than Crick going forward. While Crick is much more league ready as of now than Hicks, I think Hicks will catch up and surpass him in a season or two. The fact that Crick slipped down as low as he did seems to signal that teams were very concerned about his injury ridden college career and that the presence of Suh might've have inflated his numbers - he didn't really get a chance to prove otherwise with the injury he had afterwards.

Ta'amu is a NT who wouldn't really fit in a defense primarily playing from a 4-3 base, so I understand why he wasn't a DT target for the Saints. Also, I think it was good that they gave the defense the main focus in this year's draft, because they probably won't have that chance ever again after SP returns after this season.