Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

The New Orleans Saints added to their offensive line on the third day of the 2018 NFL Draft, selecting Florida State tackle Rick Leonard.

The 6-foot-7, 314-pound Leonard played right tackle for the Seminoles the past two years after starting his Florida State career as a defensive end.

Leonard shifted from defensive end after his sophomore season and gained about 50 pounds between December 2015 and September 2016 when he started the season opener against Ole Miss.

"This is where I'm supposed to be, on this side of the ball," Leonard said on a teleconference Saturday (April 28).

http://image.nola.com/home/nola-medi...fa3386eb30.jpg

Although CBS Sports and NFL.com projected Leonard to go undrafted, the Saints were clearly enamored with him to take him 127th overall. Leonard said the Saints came to work him out in Tallahassee during the pre-draft process, and he thought he impressed.

"I'm happy the Saints believe in me like I believe in myself, and they see it in me like I see it in me," he said. "And I'm really excited, man."

Leonard said Florida State offensive line coach Rick Trickett kept pushing him to switch to offensive line after arriving on campus. Finally, after playing minimally as a freshman and sophomore, Leonard agreed and quickly made the transition to start six games as a junior and all 13 as a senior.

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Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

I was pissed about us drafting Peat and was 100% wrong so I'm just rollin with the punches on this one. In this situation even if he doesn't work out its not like we spent a first round pick. We definitely have bodies at the RB, OL and DB positions.

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Never heard of him however I'll continue to trust the Saints FO on the draft selection. Saints are very good at drafting & developing O linemen. Welcome to New Orleans Rick :bng:

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Two out of three drafts ain't bad..........

Just kidding. I wanted o-line in the first and I just don't know anything about these rookies! I'll just wait and see before I pass judgement. But dang........:bugeyes:

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

This guy is going to prove a lot of you wrong. That's my .02.

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

These later round picks are nothing amazing but the things that can't be measured like ability to improve, motivation...I believe they have it and seems that is what we were targeting. Worse case scenario we added some depth on the OL which is always great to have.

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

If we knew Strief was going to end up being as good as he was for as long as he was getting him in the fourth round would have been a steal.

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

I was screaming for O-line.......and I got it. Now let the coaches do their thang!:p

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Nice.

"Time to go to work". Keep grinding Rick.

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Curious to see how he develops. One thing that sticks out at me is Sean saying "doesn't matter where you draft them" "if they knew Colston would have turned out the way he did they would have drafted him #1"

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Good size and feet. But, unless there's a lot of injuries and he can also play guard, he's a practice squad guy at best.

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Brett Tessler
@TesslerSports
The New Orleans Saints knew exactly what they were doing taking Rick Leonard (OT, FSU) in the 4th round because I spoke to a couple teams today who told me they definitely would have taken him in the 5th round if he was still there.
12:10 PM · Apr 30, 2018

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Listen to Sean P post draft presser. He stated that when you watch him, he got better and better every game. After the dust settles, no one will really care where he was drafted as long as he develops.

Again Sean P is a visionary, smart football mind. Why take him in the 4th if objectively he should go as a UDFA? That should prompt you to realize SP knew something about other teams having him on their board.

Leonard has athletic ability & potential to become a starter. Trust the process.

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

I said the same thing yesterday. Leonard was taken where he was taken because the Saints felt he wouldn't be there later, regardless of what some lame-ass "draft experts" fishing for clicks on the web states in their useless "rankings" and draft projections.

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Good to see you at the Saints Rick!

Re: Saints pick Florida State offensive tackle Rick Leonard in 4th round
 

Experts, what do they know? The so-called draft experts said Kamara had no vision. Boy did they get that one wrong.