Could we the best landing spot for UDFAs again? Should we covet late round picks? (2 Viewers)

[Snakehead]

• Round 1, Pick 9
• Round 2, Pick 40
• Round 3, Pick 71
• Round 3, Pick 93 (via Washington)
• Round 4, Pick 110
• Round 4, Pick 129 (via Washington)
• Round 6, Pick 185
• Round 7, Pick 253 (projected compensatory)

Thanks, that's what I've seen in most places, but there are other sites out there with additional picks.

After some research, it looks like people on confused on the 6th. We traded it to Washington for Ridgeway and they traded it back for Lattimore. Some sites are adding that as an additional pick, but it is not. We have our 6th back.

It also looks like we'll have 2 7ths, so 9 picks.

• Own first round
• Own second round
• Own third round
• Commanders' third round
• Own fourth round
• Commanders' fourth round
• Own sixth round
• Two most favorable seventh rounders of Eagles, Falcons, Broncos and Saints

Commanders, Saints' Depth Chart, Salary Cap, NFL Draft Picks After Lattimore Trade

Having vaulted to the top of the NFC East, the Washington Commanders made a big swing ahead of the NFL trade deadline by acquiring four-time Pro Bowl…

bleacherreport.com

 

[meily]

Most UDFA prove why they did not have a draftable grade, we are not the mecca of UDFA players even if one sticks they're shortcomings typically show and you see why they weren't drafted.

We need to hit on our draft picks.

 

[SWJJ]

In my fantasy land, Loomis turns pick 9 into a pick in the late teens/early twenties and picks up an additional 2025 2nd. Depending on how far back, they could even pickup an additional third or fourth. Easiest way to bring down the cap and stock up on talent is get as many picks as possible and take BPA across the board.

YES!!!

Same fantasy here, trade back to low 20s or late teens, pick up an extra second or maybe a 3rd and 4th.

 

[jasonsw]

Now that the head coaching search is about to wrap up, one way or another, I've started thinking about the draft and free agency and it made me remember when we were once THE BEST team to go to to have a chance to actually make a roster and play as a UDFA or late round pick. When the whole "it doesn't matter how you got here, it matters what you do once you're here" was really a thing. I realize that was many years ago and under Sean Payton, but the circumstances to then are similar now. We have a roster with not much depth and not much money to fix it.

ElliasJWilliams posted in the Senior Bowl thread that Payton had changed out nearly 40 players when he got here. I know a bunch of UDFAs came in during those early years and a lot of late round picks got playing time as well. Could we use a similar approach to quickly turn over this roster in 2025 and 2026? Lots of clever cap maneuvering would need to happen up top still, but if there was the will to getting the roster turned over quickly I believe this could be part of the strategy.

This article from 2020 goes over a lot of the names we've developed out of UDFAs. We didn't do them all at once, but there was a LOT of them over the years. Do you think the team can / will try to replicate that this year for the new coach? And would making it known that there was going to be an effort to recruit and play UDFAs this season give us an advantage after the draft is over? Is this the year to let the scouts earn their keep while getting a lot of good football players and building the team around them instead of drafting for fit?

Im for it, the Saints should just eat these bad contracts, keep Carr though and try to bring in as many players to compete for spots.

Sure many might not be good, but at least it starts the process. Maybe in the process you find a starter and some depth players. Keeping DD, Honey Badger, Cam and whomever else around does not do this team any good.

 

[Elvis]

Most UDFA prove why they did not have a draftable grade, we are not the mecca of UDFA players even if one sticks they're shortcomings typically show and you see why they weren't drafted.

We need to hit on our draft picks.

Very true that we need to hit on our higher draft picks. There is no replacing that.

But to tune the bottom of the roster (or find the occasion diamond in the rough like Pierre Thomas or Lance Moore) I think it's worth grabbing a ton of these guys to see how they develop for longer than mini camp and fringe roles in training camp. We have an entire bottom of the roster we can turn over without much loss in talent. The ones that have been here as career special teamers and practice squad players aren't worth caring over because we've seen what they are and they aren't contributors. So why not flush that whole group and grab a whole new group to see if any grow into anything. Really spend some time coaching these guys and give them a real chance to catch on. If we can find a RB2, TE2 or WR3 on a UDFA contract we'd be setting ourselves up for the next few years. It'll be up to the coaches to do those evaluations and maybe pick up some other players after roster cut downs.

 

[Elvis]

YES!!!

Same fantasy here, trade back to low 20s or late teens, pick up an extra second or maybe a 3rd and 4th.

And no reason to hesitate for future picks as well. If we could trade back into the 20s and grab a couple of picks this year AND next year that would still help with a quicker turnaround than holding onto #9.

 

[Snakehead]

And no reason to hesitate for future picks as well. If we could trade back into the 20s and grab a couple of picks this year AND next year that would still help with a quicker turnaround than holding onto #9.

This draft is shallow at top end play-maker talent, but deep at team building foundational talent. An ideal scenario is trade back in the 1st and pick up a future 1st and a 2nd and/or 3rd this year. This would give us draft capital in 2026 for a better QB draft. Picking up additional 2nds/3rds in this draft is the sweet spot. If we can do that, then turn around a trade back a couple times in the 2nd/3rd to pick up additional picks with the total amount being 12-14, we could make significant progress in the rebuild. The more picks in the top 100, the better. I also like the idea of getting throw in 6ths/7ths just to have the option of drafting a guy instead of trying to recruit them as a UDFA.

 

[meily]

Very true that we need to hit on our higher draft picks. There is no replacing that.

But to tune the bottom of the roster (or find the occasion diamond in the rough like Pierre Thomas or Lance Moore) I think it's worth grabbing a ton of these guys to see how they develop for longer than mini camp and fringe roles in training camp. We have an entire bottom of the roster we can turn over without much loss in talent. The ones that have been here as career special teamers and practice squad players aren't worth caring over because we've seen what they are and they aren't contributors. So why not flush that whole group and grab a whole new group to see if any grow into anything. Really spend some time coaching these guys and give them a real chance to catch on. If we can find a RB2, TE2 or WR3 on a UDFA contract we'd be setting ourselves up for the next few years. It'll be up to the coaches to do those evaluations and maybe pick up some other players after roster cut downs.

that was 15 years ago, and if you see the guys we typically pick up in the UDFA market its just camp bodies to spell the starters, its not something a team can rely on even if you luck up and a guy becomes a contributor on your team its not a road map on building a team.

 

[RJS]

that was 15 years ago, and if you see the guys we typically pick up in the UDFA market its just camp bodies to spell the starters, its not something a team can rely on even if you luck up and a guy becomes a contributor on your team its not a road map on building a team.

Rashid Shaheed and Carl Granderson are not camp bodies. Good teams turn over every stone. Something like 12% of the league's starters and over 30% of rosters are undrafted.

 

[Elvis]

that was 15 years ago, and if you see the guys we typically pick up in the UDFA market its just camp bodies to spell the starters, its not something a team can rely on even if you luck up and a guy becomes a contributor on your team its not a road map on building a team.

Rashid Shaheed, Juwan Johnson, Malcolm Roach, Lucas Krull, Marquez Caloway, Calvin Throckmorton, Blake Gillikin, Blake Grupe, Carl Granderson, Shy Tuttle, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Deonte Harty have all been Saints UDFAs and have made contributions to our team and other teams outside of special teams.

Starters would be great. Depth can be essential.