With the 9th Pick in the 2025 draft, who should the Saints select? (merged) (2 Viewers)

[sammymvpknight]

No on Sheduer. I don’t see what yall are seeing in him. Stats? I see alot of undisciplined play and attitude. It’s not going to work.

Couldn’t agree more. He’s not a 1st round talent. If he’s there in the 2nd? Perhaps. He has zero pocket presence and instincts. He’s going to get hurt and/or be a turnover machine at the next level.

 

[iChill]

Abdul Carter has been making plays tonight

 

[Slowhandjm]

Abdul Carter has been making plays tonight

Yes, and doing it with 1arm.

 

[solarbear88]

I think if McMillan or Banks are there the Saints will take them. They are almost must have players. If not, I doubt Carter will be available, so I expect Graham or Williams. Our Defensive front is worst in the league.

If Jeanty is there I'd be tempted to take him. Most impactful player in this draft. He is like Montgomery and Gibbs in one player.

As a side note, I expect some interesting stuff on draft day. Jets, Browns, Raiders and Giants all desperately will want Ward or Sanders. It will be interesting who makes a move.

 

[Belfast Saint]

That's my feeling as well. I'd also like to upgrade both OG positions. What do you think about making Ruiz a back up OC since McCoy has had trouble staying healthy lately?

Competition determines who starts and who backs up. Ruiz should compete for the job he's currently in (hopefully with others capable of starting) and if he loses out in that primary competition, then yes, he should back up and cover LG, C, and RG.

 

[St. Geezy]

Competition determines who starts and who backs up. Ruiz should compete for the job he's currently in (hopefully with others capable of starting) and if he loses out in that primary competition, then yes, he should back up and cover LG, C, and RG.

We can want and want and want something to happen, but a lot of times the real cash impact plays a role in these decisions.

If he is on the roster, this contract isn’t sitting on the bench.

Saints announce 4-year extension for OL Ruiz

The Saints have signed guard Cesar Ruiz to a four-year extension. The deal is worth up to $46 million, including $30 million guaranteed, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

www.espn.com

Four of our five OL starters are penciled in for next season. We need to just hope for health and improvement from the group (which is young) with the next coaching staff and system, and with hopefully a stud upgrade at LG.

 

[Hank]

If Jeanty is there you have to take him. AK is getting up in age, Kendre has issues staying healthy and Clyde is a good 3rd option. Jeanty would be the perfect pairing with AK and can take the reigns over when AK is gone like AK did with Ingram

Soon to be 30 yr old RB in AK with multiple 2024 injuries, K Miller very few games played and often injured, and a guy you just signed off the street in Clyde----Saints Rb is no where near settled---Take Jeanty @ 9 if available.

 

[MikeyF]

We can want and want and want something to happen, but a lot of times the real cash impact plays a role in these decisions.

If he is on the roster, this contract isn’t sitting on the bench.

Saints announce 4-year extension for OL Ruiz

The Saints have signed guard Cesar Ruiz to a four-year extension. The deal is worth up to $46 million, including $30 million guaranteed, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

www.espn.com

Four of our five OL starters are penciled in for next season. We need to just hope for health and improvement from the group (which is young) with the next coaching staff and system, and with hopefully a stud upgrade at LG.

We need a backup C that can come in & actually play if McCoy has another injury prone year.

All of our offensive problems began when he went our with his injury.
Our won - lost record is terrible without him...

 

[3ParStillDriver]

Soon to be 30 yr old RB in AK with multiple 2024 injuries, K Miller very few games played and often injured, and a guy you just signed off the street in Clyde----Saints Rb is no where near settled---Take Jeanty @ 9 if available.

Add in that you don't draft for the upcoming season, you draft for a couple of years from now. In a couple of years AK is 32, Miller, given his injury history may not even be on the roster, and Clyde (who I really, really like) has too much history of inconsistency and PTSD causing him to miss time it immediately becomes absolutely silly entertaining the idea of passing up generational talent at a skilled position of need that lands in your lap.

 

[St. Geezy]

We need a backup C that can come in & actually play if McCoy has another injury prone year.

All of our offensive problems began when he went our with his injury.
Our won - lost record is terrible without him...

Agreed. It’s unorthodox, but we should prioritize having a legitimate backup center this off-season rather than relying on shifting someone, especially if it involves compromising TWO line positions because of one injury.

 

[Belfast Saint]

We can want and want and want something to happen, but a lot of times the real cash impact plays a role in these decisions.

If he is on the roster, this contract isn’t sitting on the bench.

Saints announce 4-year extension for OL Ruiz

The Saints have signed guard Cesar Ruiz to a four-year extension. The deal is worth up to $46 million, including $30 million guaranteed, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

www.espn.com

Four of our five OL starters are penciled in for next season. We need to just hope for health and improvement from the group (which is young) with the next coaching staff and system, and with hopefully a stud upgrade at LG.

Understood, but if you start a worse player because he makes more, the team is doomed.

Competition for starting positions should determine who is on the field and who is on the bench.

 

[St. Geezy]

Understood, but if you start a worse player because he makes more, the team is doomed.

Competition for starting positions should determine who is on the field and who is on the bench.

Definitely agree on that. The issue is that what happens is that the team won’t go out of its way to find a better player to trump a player whose salary is that high.

Now, if they happen to stumble upon a cheap free agent that suddenly has a light bulb come on and gets great, or get lucky and strike gold on an immediate Pro Bowl level rookie guard out of Bloomsberg College that you got in the middle of the draft, that’s a different story.

 

[Rouxble]

Definitely agree on that. The issue is that what happens is that the team won’t go out of its way to find a better player to trump a player whose salary is that high.

Now, if they happen to stumble upon a cheap free agent that suddenly has a light bulb come on and gets great, or get lucky and strike gold on an immediate Pro Bowl level rookie guard out of Bloomsberg College that you got in the middle of the draft, that’s a different story.

That's exactly it, the team isn't likely to seek out real competition when they are already paying someone at that position. You might get a late-round rookie or some vet minimum journeyman, but the team isn't investing serious resources into finding someone who can put a high-paid player on the bench.

The result is predictable, any competitions that do take place in camp are likely going to be won by the entrenched veteran, because they'll win any ties and the talent level/developmental level of their replacements isn't likely to be good enough to even achieve a tie.

 

[Belfast Saint]

Definitely agree on that. The issue is that what happens is that the team won’t go out of its way to find a better player to trump a player whose salary is that high.

Now, if they happen to stumble upon a cheap free agent that suddenly has a light bulb come on and gets great, or get lucky and strike gold on an immediate Pro Bowl level rookie guard out of Bloomsberg College that you got in the middle of the draft, that’s a different story.

Agreed. That's the very likely outcome - 'we already spent the resources on our now RG, can't spend anymore $$$ or draft capital to replace - unless we find lightning in a bottle'.

Either way, whether we find lightning in a bottle or do spend limited $$$ or draft capital on RG, Ruiz would only ever become backup center (and LG/RG) if he gets out-performed. I suppose it's theoretically possible that we bring in a bona fide top 3 RG who can only ever play RG (not happening) but then would probably push Ruiz to compete at LG with whomever.