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12. New Orleans Saints: Sheldon Rankins, Defensive Tackle, Louisville

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12. New Orleans Saints: Sheldon Rankins, Defensive Tackle, Louisville
Throughout this draft coverage, we'll pepper Saints defensive selections with carefully-curated Random Depressing Saints Defensive Stats.

Random Depressing Saints Defensive Stat #2043B: The Saints allowed 129.4 rushing yards per game last season (31st) in the NFL and 4.9 yards per rushing attempt.

Luckily this is the best defensive tackle draft in years. It's so good, and defensive tackles are so hard to keep straight, that Bleacher Report proudly presents this year's first installment of Big Uglies: a 2016 Field Guide. Don’t try to tell one monstrous interior lineman from another without it!

A quick Rankins primer ...

Size: 6-foot-1, 299 pounds.

Athleticism: This dude moves like a 210-pound safety.

Honors: All-ACC selection.

Numbers: Seven sacks in 2015.

Defining Special Trait: Exceptional first step quickness and fluidity.

Potential Flaws: Smaller than the prototype.

Also Worth Mentioning: Obliterated every blocker he faced in Senior Bowl practices.

Rankins looked like Aaron Donald’s twin brother at the Senior Bowl and could be a special player, though nitpickers warn that he lacks a counter move as a pass rusher and may not be built to bulk up to the 310-pound range without sacrificing quickness. Nitpickers sometimes mix old-fashioned analysis-paralysis with let’s pour ice water all over this prospect who is slaughtering offensive linemen in front of 500 reporters so we sound extra-discerning ulterior motives. Rankins can start in the NFL; the details are what will decide if he develops into a Pro Bowler.

The Saints will be easy to grade this year. Every time they pick a solid defensive player, they get a reward. Grade: A