triman

MiShap has us picking Sheldon. Rankins @ #12 and Jaylon Smith @#47 .I would be very happy with that pair of picks .I know that we need a second rd player to contribute this year. I would be willing to red shirt a player with the potential to be a difference maker. And Pro bowl caliber. Rankins. Fills a need and is my kind of high motor guy.

Cruize

The Saints need a player who can contribute right away with the 2nd rd pick. And if Smith is looking like anywhere near playing this year, he won't be available in the 2nd rd. The defensive talent is too deep in this draft, and too needed by the Saints, to waste that high a pick on a player for next year. And to be honest, who knows if he will ever be the player he once was. Not crazy about the first round pick either.

Danno

I'd be perfectly fine with that.

If you were certain that you potentially had the next Ray Lewis or Luke Keuckley, but had to redshirt him for a year, would you take a stab at him in the 2nd round?

jeanpierre

Don't think Sheldon Rankins is gonna be what he's projected...

I'd rather reach for LaTech's Vernon Butler or even Clemson's Dodd...

hagan714

Sheldon Rankins
Sheldon Rankins
Sheldon Rankins
Sheldon Rankins
Sheldon Rankins
Sheldon Rankins

That is all I hear. I am trying really hard but as with every draft no one in the national media seems to get the saints pick right. nether do I

CheramieIII

rankins smells rank in my opinion A'Shawn and Jerron will contribute immediately. Trade to get them both in the 1st trade our 1st next year and second this year for the other.

FinSaint

Draft is for the future, FA is for the immediate holes in the roster.

So, red-shirting a 2nd round pick who'd become a future pro bowler is a sound strategy.

I'd go even as far as saying that moving back into the 1st to pick such a player at one of the last picks wouldn't be a bad move, since you'd automatically get an additional option year and in a way get that year back.

K Major

Source: Noah Spence to visit Saints - Black and Gold

Could be nothing but worth mentioning.

blackangold

Nothing is guaranteed.

Taking a 1st round pick on a guy that just had a major injury seems pretty illogical to me. Fact is Smith might not be great in the pros even with a healthy knee. Then add on the major knee injury and all that potential comes into question. I think taking the guy in the first 3 rounds would be a wasted pick.

You don't know how Smith will recover. He might not be the same player.

This draft is too deep on D to take a risk like that imo. It would be like picking SJB all over again, ton of possible upside but high risk.

K Major

The doctors evaluation would be critical for me to take that gamble in the 2nd round on JS. Last I read, they were talking possible "nerve" damage. Serious stuff.

Side note -I would want someone from Dr. Andrews medical staff doing the evaluation - not the NO staff.