Dave Ziegler joining the Saints as an advisor for Free Agency and the draft (Saints permanently hire Ziegler as Personnel Advisor)

SonOfNOLA said

Having 5 early round picks gave us a good chance to select an immediate all-pro from the 2017 class. We barely had any early picks in 2019-2020. From those drafts we still managed to get two top 10 OL at their positions who played really well for top 2nd contracts.

I think we’ve drafted All-Pro tier talent since then when statistically comparing them to All-Pro selected players. They’ve been in the league for just 2-3 years.

Thomas didn’t have his undisputed all-pro seasons until his 3rd and 4th seasons. It took Cam Jordan and Armstead 4-5 years for their All-Pro selections. I think with a new OC and 2nd year with Carr, Olave has an opportunity for a 100+ reception season similar to Thomas’ AP years.

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If we didn’t have picks it’s because we traded them to move up. You brag on McCoy, but then complain that we don’t have the 2nd round pick we traded to move up for him. You can’t have it both ways.

I don’t know if McCoy is a top 10 center. I remember him grading out as our best OL this year but it wasn’t great. There’s no way I’m believing Ruiz is a top 10 guard.

Amon Ra was drafted the same year as Olave. First team all-pro. Ceedee was drafted one year earlier. First team all-pro. Their teams didn’t trade up for those guys. That gave them those extra picks that allowed them to become contenders.

We’re really lucky we got those picks for Payton. We would’ve been so screwed with no 1 last year and no 2 this year.