[Merged] Saints Select Clemson DT Bryan Bresee

Yeah I think most Saints fans understand there is an injury concern here. But without that injury concern he's not still on the board at 29. I'm one of those people who keeps up with the draft year around and I check out the way too early mock drafts. Bryan Bresee has been mocked way up there for a long time. A lot of it is simply hype because he was the #1 recruit in the country and the expectations for him at Clemson were out of this world. But some of it is because he's super talented.

To me this wasn't the Saints getting cute or trying to outthink the room. It was simply a case of drafting a player with immense upside at a position of need. They were able to get a late 1st round pick for SP and they decided to take a big swing with it. At the end of the 1st round teams are faced with the decision of playing it safe with a quality prospect or taking a risk on a big time prospect that fell due to injury/character concerns. So they swung hard in case they hit it. I can't fault them for that. Not at 29. Now had they traded up and drafted him in the top 15 then yeah, not great. But staying put and going for the HR, I'll allow it.
This is the one thing that makes this pick ok with me. Unlike Davenport or Sullivan or a list of others we didn’t mortgage future draft picks for a player that may or may not pan out. Essentially it was a free pick Payton gifted us when he left. So no gain no loss. I just less impressed with the player the more I look. I think based on his high school rating and his first year got him taken in the first in addition to potential and testing numbers. Personally I prefer a player that has trended up during his career but again, free pick and you don’t win anything you aren’t willing to lose. At least he seems like a high character high effort guy, unlike some of our other busts.