Complete Saints draft history dating back to 1967 (1 Viewer)

[Danchrism]

Stinchcomb isn't very good, Henderson may not get re-signed, hardly anybody likes Bullocks, and Bush, while he plays often, isn't a starter; either him or Deuce, anyway.

 

[danny1063]

Saints drafted starters:

J Brown
J Evans
J Stinchcomb
D McAllister
R Bush
M Karney
M Colston
D Henderson

C Grant
W Smith
J Bullocks
R Harper

Now compare their drafted starters with our drafted starters and what they were able to do with what we were able to do.
The point is that they were able to build play-off caliber teams through the draft.
While there have been a few bright spots over the years, our drafts seem to be characterized by more misses than hits.

 

[ndcc]

the draft is the life line of your team. signing free agents is great. but if you want to be good long term you have to build from the draft. the saints cant afford another draft like the 07 one. when you get nothing from your draft its hard to stay at a high level.the draft the saints had in 06 is what gets you in the playoffs and keeps you going there.the saints front office needs to do a better job of player evaluation than they did in the 07 draft !

Absolutely!

Some observations...

The Saints' franchise really gave away (traded) draft choices for washed-up veterans. Yes, they hit a few (here and there). But by and large, we had a terrible front office and let too many quality players get away.

I think the Saints really started becoming a formidable NFL team under Hank Stram. It's just that Hank didn't get enough time to build his team. He was well on his way, though. Just look at the players he drafted in the FEW years he was with the Saints. Archie Manning's early years with the Saints didn't have him surrounded by quality players until the late 70's. Muncie & Galbreath were a great tandem, but notice how the Saints' offense blossomed after Wes Chandler. And as the late Wayne Mack once said: "Imagine how powerful the Saints could have been (in '78 & '79) had Archie had a defense."

The Mora years were excellent, especially for building the dome patrol through the draft. Ricky Jackson was a key piece (in the "Bum Phillips" years), but Mora got the final pieces of the puzzle.

Ditka wasn't bad, but he could have done MUCH better. Don't want to get started on that!

Jim "We'll be fine" Haslett was hit & miss. But if you look at his choices, he was more interested in guys who LOOKED LIKE stud football players instead of ones who actually had the ability, mentality and instincts for the same.

Sean Payton (and Loomis) did an outstanding job in the 2006 draft. The 2007 draft was pretty much a bust because I think they stayed pat too much with the "miracle 2006" players ...and were not critical and objective enough to see how much MORE we could improve. Also, mistakes with free agency (i.e.: taking a cover-2 guy like JD and expecting him to instantly become a man-to-man guy) was exposed big time.

Great points by many in this thread about the draft being the key to building a quality NFL team. With the Saints, we have to rebound and get a gangbuster draft in 2008. Somehow, I think Loomis & Co. will "git 'er done!"