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METAIRIE, La. — It’s not that Kenny Vaccaro isn’t a player with tons of upside.

It’s not that the Saints didn’t need help at safety.

It’s just that from afar – that is, outside the Saints’ war room – safety would fall below linebacker and defensive line as areas of issue.

And the first round of the draft played out almost exactly as the Saints needed it to to fill those positions.

As the clock neared 9 0’clock in the evening, linebacker Alec Ogletree and Jarvis Jones were available. So, too, were defensive tackles Sylvester Williams and Sharrif Floyd.

Yet, New Orleans went all counter-intuitive, selecting a safety that will be forced into competition immediately with two incumbent starters.

While coach Sean Payton didn’t go into specifics on other players, it was clear that New Orleans’ decision-makers were over-the-moon about Vaccaro’s flexibility and versatility.

He can play three positions – free safety, strong safety and the nickel cornerback position.

He can tackle well, seen in the fact that he led Texas with 107 tackles as a senior.

Vaccaro could end up being a solid player, one who spends seasons with New Orleans as a steadying presence in the secondary.

But I look at this as a missed opportunity for the Saints to pick up a player whom could have made a real difference at a position of greater need.

Read more: Handwerger: Saints seem to have missed opportunity by taking safety | wwltv.com New Orleans

dizzle88

I said before the draft started that I didn't think we would choose an OLB as we now have galette, wilson, butler and others at that spot
I'm a little suprised we went safety instead of D line first, but if Vaccaro was the BPA in our draft rooms eyes then they had to pull the trigger

Its going to be interesting to see what happens with the competition in camp, you don't draft a guy like that in the first round if he's not going to start immediately, which is why I think the coaching staff will make moves to put him in the game.

The thing that impresses me is his versatility, but thats also making it more interesting, will he be a FS and take malcolms spot, or will he take harpers spot

Your bonehead creator picked a fine chapter to omit from your memory bank....let me ask you, does a machine like yourself ever experience fear? - Vegeta, DBZ

burningmetal

It's one thing to take a player at a position of greater need, if he's worthy of being selected there. But, the one guy who I personally would have chosen over Vaccaro is Jarvis Jones.

I don't think we needed Sylvester Williams or Shariff Floyd, and I certainly don't think either of them is good enough to be selected over Vaccaro.

With the switch to 3-4, Bunkley should produce more like he did in Denver, and they spent our only pick in the first three rounds last year on Hicks. If they don't work out in the new system THEN you worry about that next off-season.

And lastly, who cares that Ogletree was available? Do we REALLY need four middle linebackers on our team? No.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, the NFL would fine and suspend me.

jeanpierre

You're assuming that Ogletree is just a Middle Linebacker; he's not...

Ogletree's athleticism would've allowed him to play all four linebacker positions...

I'd have preferred Jarvis Jones or Sylvester Williams over Vacarro; as dissatisfied as I've been with the Safeties, my disgust with Harper is noted...

We've need a front seven that makes opposition wish they'd not gotten off the bus - rather than some English-comedy attitude of "this should be jolly fun today."

Further, when a rookie is an improvement over a veteran, not only have you improved the position, you can move the existing player for another pick and you reduce your cap hit...

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

hagan714

43 mlb
a 34 ILB would be nice.
we are going to be down to one in a couple of year anyways

hagan714

look he was a ok pick. at 15 was a reach and it is still to be seen if he can have the impact on defense they think he will. long term i understand the pick. Jenkins contract is expiring and harper is a FA in two years.

I still have a hard time believing the saints did not have trade offers.

this switch to 34 means we need picks. i like the core of players we have but i do not see 60% of the defense working out in the 34.

Danno

Wow, do they realize its only been 1 round?

They may try to trade up to land Jamie Collins.

It was said numerous times that this is a deep draft. Jarvis Jones ran a slower time than any successful NFL OLB playing today. Not a single OLB in the league today ran a 40 time as slow as he did.

I was hoping we didn't pick Jones when our pick was announced. I wanted DT but this was a great pick. I'd say A-minus.

lsutigerfan

No matter who we take there's always gonna be someone who doesnt agree. This was a very solid pick. Only time will tell though.

TheOak

My only concern is the conflicting reports that I have read on Vaccaros tackling.

dizzle88

I have a feeling that we will try to package Roman Harper and Chris Ivory in a trade to get into the second round, I like roman harper but with drafting vaccaro the writing may be on the wall for one of our safeties and he has the largest cap hit