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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).



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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jeanpierre

He may develop into a solid pro as Zach Strief had; but you take Zach Strief's in the seventh round for a reason, not the fourth!!!

This is the argument for the League Office to put some teams on Auto-Draft!!!

Damn it, Sean!!! Get off the pills!!!

darksoul35

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.

K Major

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

Rugby Saint II

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........

saintfan

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

Beastmode

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.

AsylumGuido

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.

SmashMouth

Rugby Saint II

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