Last pick, Kawaan Baker, WR Southern Alabama (1 Viewer)

[NOFALCONS10]

Shows some of the relevance of the 10-20 yard split and recent wrs.

Baker's 10 & 20 yard splits were matched only by Robert Meachem of all saints wrs drafted under Payton.

Baker's 10 and 20 yard splits were even better than Brandin Cooks who ran a 4.33 40.

 

[cajunman9]

Kawaan Baker's hands are 10.75", one third the length of his arms.
Those are enormous hands.
Baker should make the 53 man roster.
Now who do we cut in the wide receiver group ?

 

[Que Que 6]

Prediction: he scores 5+ TD’s this year.

per game too!

 

[TruSaint]

Kawaan Baker's hands are 10.75", one third the length of his arms.
Those are enormous hands.
Baker should make the 53 man roster.
Now who do we cut in the wide receiver group ?

Guessing either Juwan or lil’jordan

 

[cajunman9]

Guessing either Juwan or lil’jordan

I actually like Juwan. I hope he sticks.
Lil Jordan...I can't remember much about his play last season.
Juwan is such a massive target. He does well presenting an open target simply because of his height and being long striding to an open area makes it difficult to effectively cover him. Last season he made some crucial catches for first downs.
I like Juwan Johnson.

 

[Snakehead]

Kawaan Baker's hands are 10.75", one third the length of his arms.
Those are enormous hands.
Baker should make the 53 man roster.
Now who do we cut in the wide receiver group ?

We keep on average 7 WRs for a season. The lowest in the past 8 years was 2015 with 5 and the highest was in 2018 with 12, but a few of those guys were injured like Meredith.

Locks:
Michael Thomas
Tre'Quan Smith
Marquez Callaway
Deonte Harris (primary returner)

Battling for roster spot:
Juwan Johnson - Near lock. Showed glimpses last season. Big body WR, seems to be chatter picking up about a move to TE.
Lil'Jordan Humphrey - Looked better last season that previous action. Maybe healthy and in shape.
Jalen McCleskey (FA signed) - Fastest WR on team. 4.28 40 and a 40" vertical.
Kawaan Baker (2021 7th RD pick) - Intriguing skillset, is he a Z, a slot guy or both? Huge hands, models game after Deebo Samuel and has splits that comp favorably to some really good WRs. (Thanks to NOFALCON10 for the deep dive on Baker) Potential diamond in the rough. 4.42 40
Easop Winston (FA signed) - Comps to Emmanuel Sanders (from articles before the 2020 draft). Worked with speed trainer who helped Jon Ross run the 4.2 40 and dropped his 40 from 4.56 to 4.42.
Jake Lampman - Originally a 2016 UDFA signing by the Saints and actually saw game action on ST in October 2016. Released in 2017, bounced around a bit and had some IR stints and played in the XFL. Resigned to PS this past season and then a futures deal in January 2021.

My initial guess would be:

Michael Thomas
Tre'Quan Smith
Marquez Callaway
Deonte Harris (primary returner)
Kawaan Baker
Easop Winston
Jalen McCleskey

Juwan Johnson moves to move TE. He's a large man and looked every bit of a TE in that workout video posted with Winston.

Lil'Jordan Humphrey - PS and up and down depending on matchups.
Lampman - PS or fills a ST role.

Harris, Baker, Winston and McCleskey are all sub 4.45 WRs. We haven't had this many sub 4.45 WRs in quite a while. It may be an indication of the direction of the offense.

 

[SoggyBottomBoy]

I live 5 minutes from USA. This is the school where the players were second string on most 6A/7A high school teams. It is akin to Dollar General. Family Dollar. When you really wanted to work at a hedge fund on Wall Street. Tickets are not sold. People walk into the stadium and sit where they choose. I could go on and on. It is not the JV high school game on a Thursday afternoon. It is the freshman game during 6th period on Monday. But yeah, considering this draft, he MAY be our best pick. And I am NOT being facetious (had to google my spelling on that one)

The football program is less than 10 years old and still trying to get traction. The SunBelt is a low-tier conference, but has been pretty good lately. Pulling some upsets wins against Power Five Conference teams. Sunbelt went 4-3 vs. P5 with wins against Iowa St., Kansas St., Kansas and BYU.

Some gems can be mined from the SunBelt. Even from South AL.

 

[Le_fleur_fan_78]

Jalen McCleskey (FA signed) - Fastest WR on team. 4.28 40 and a 40" vertical.

I know speed isn't everything, but daaaaaaaang!

 

[sportsaint]

He has handicap drew throwing to him

Hey I loved Drew like everyone else here, but in a true sense he was handicapped by many ailments.

 

[sipsey37]

I know speed isn't everything, but daaaaaaaang!

You can see it in his highlights. Multiple times people have angles on him and he is able to come out of it clean.

 

[Que Que 6]

The football program is less than 10 years old and still trying to get traction. The SunBelt is a low-tier conference, but has been pretty good lately. Pulling some upsets wins against Power Five Conference teams. Sunbelt went 4-3 vs. P5 with wins against Iowa St., Kansas St., Kansas and BYU.

Some gems can be mined from the SunBelt. Even from South AL.

Oh, I hope that I look foolish after next season.

 

[Eman5805]

7th rd is not "high on"...thats "we'll just take a flyer and see what happens". Just because we never seen him doesnt mean he shouldnt have gotten drafted.

It also is a “we want this guy too much to risk him signing elsewhere as an UDFA.

 

[sfidc3]

Juwan Johnson - Near lock. Showed glimpses last season. Big body WR, seems to be chatter picking up about a move to TE.

This makes sense and I hope it works out....

Just a feeling/hunch that Baker is going to make and contribute to this team sooner rather than later....I have a very good feeling about this kid for some reason....

 

[FlySaint]

I have that same feeling about Baker.

In fact I think he‘ll contribute more this year than Johnson, especially if Juwan’s making a position change. Position changes in the NFL rarely seem to work out.

 

[Snakehead]

I have that same feeling about Baker.

In fact I think he‘ll contribute more this year than Johnson, especially if Juwan’s making a position change. Position changes in the NFL rarely seem to work out.

Darren Waller is a converted WR, Robert Tonyan is a converted QB/WR, Dan Arnold converted WR while Logan Thomas is a converted QB. They are out there and the WR to TE conversion is one of the most common. The main issue is that it takes a couple years especially if the player has to put on weight as was the case for Arnold. If the team were to convert Juwan, he could be the move TE as he's putting on weight and let Trautman be the all around with Vannett also being the all around TE. It would give Juwan time.