NOLA.com Saints shouldn't let prospects' talent trump character on their 2015 NFL Draft board

[SmashMouth]

By the day, prospective draft picks for the New Orleans Saints added red flags to their portfolio.

Players like Missouri edge defender Shane Ray and LSU tackle La'el Collins are the latest prospects possessing first-round talent who now carry some sort of connection to criminal activity.

Police cited Ray for marijuana possession early Monday morning. Police are questioning Collins in connection to the death of a pregnant woman, though Collins isn't considered a suspect. The cloud of suspicion this close to the draft will leave teams on edge.

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis alluded to this point in his press conference of deflectability Wednesday morning.

"Look, without referencing that one specifically, I think anything that happens closer to the draft you get a little more alarmed because you're concerned a little more about judgment as much as the incident itself," Loomis said. "The problem is you don't have enough time to dig into it and get all the information you would have if it would have happened a month ago or two months ago.

"Anything like that is concerning, but any incident frankly is concerning."

This adds two names to potential first-round talent possibly falling down draft boards across the league, joining the likes of former Missouri wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, ex-Washington cornerback Marcus Peters and former Nebraska linebacker Randy Gregory.

The Saints' philosophy typically is to avoid any player with any character question marks. Sort through the first round picks under Loomis and coach Sean Payton since 2006 and the players taken in Round 1 were pretty clean as far as we know.



I can't see the Saints considering any of the aforementioned players with their first first-round pick at No. 13 overall. Ray and Gregory would fit a need slot, and Payton mentioned this offseason how the Saints would draft at least one edge defender. The 13th pick isn't the place for those two players.

Should the Saints lessen their standards on the character end to take a character-flagged player at No. 31, the team's second first-round pick? Or maybe with the team's second-round pick (No. 44)?

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