RB Ashton Jeanty as the Saints 1st pick? (1 Viewer)

[3ParStillDriver]

I don't have an issue with drafting Jeantry if he is BPA when we pick, but it would be better if we can get someone to trade up to the spot for a load of picks because that's where the real value is. For every Peterson or Saquon in the first, there is a Kamra and many others who are also generational talents or nearly as good who are taken in the 3rd or 4th round. So there isn't a whole lot of value in taking a RB that high in the first round.

And that's a great point. You're not just trading value for the spot. You're trading value for the spot AND the player that's available. This allows you to fleece the team wanting to trade up. Depending on who's trading up, you can easily get a couple of day 2 picks and if they're further back in the draft, possibly even a 1 next year as well. That would position us to trade up for a QB if we deem it necessary next year.

That would absolutely be the right move to make.

But if you're not going to get great value, you gotta take Jeanty. And no, trading back a few spots just for a single day 2 extra pick is not value at that point imo. Cause now you're taking a non-generational talent in the first that could bust, and drafting someone in round 3 that has a high probability of being an average starter or worse.

 

[44slayer]

We need to trade down and stockpile picks. A RB isn't going to fix this team. Barry Sanders didn't fix Detroit. We need too many pieces and we desperately need to develop depth at nearly every position. We just haven't had a lot of picks the last several years due to Loomis draft pretzeling. And it shows. We lack quality, and we lack quality depth. 1 guy gets injured, we are turning to UDFAs and signing people off the street. Whereas other teams are turning to 3rd, 4th round picks to step in and develop into quality starters.

This draft is a depth draft. Its not a top end heavy draft. We need to sucker someone in to trading up and get more mid round picks.

 

[Snakehead]

If Jeanty is available when we pick, you don't guess, you don't think. You run to that dang podium and drop that name as the selection yourself. Don't even wait for Goodell. Pull up your big boy britches, run up there and do it yourself.

Absolutely silly that anyone would even think on passing on a generational talent in a position where you need the most consistency. Who was the last generational talent at RB? Adrian Peterson. You're going to pass on an Adrian Peterson that can catch like Kamara?

"Oh but we need a QB or WR". HEY! Learn some freaking football. It's a lot easier to find success at passing for any QB or WR if the opposing defense is stacking 8 in the box.

"Oh But we're so weak on defensive line". HEY! SHUT IT! It's a lot easier to have a successful defense if your RB is eating up the clock and controlling the time of possession game keeping your defense fresh.

"Oh, but we need OLine help bad" Thats true. But we have two great young tackles which may be the best Tackle Tandem in the NFL, and one of the best Centers, if NOT THE BEST CENTER IN THE NFL. Free Agency is your friend and its perfectly reasonable to believe we can upgrade Guard using it.

There are no excuses for passing on Jeanty when we pick. None. So stupid and foolish that any and every one in the front office as well as coaches need to be fired immediately if they even think about it.

Everyone is obsessed with QB, WR etc because they're the most big play potential positions. But so many fans have forgotten that RB absolutely has to be your most consistent position, otherwise your offense struggles. And as the OP says, Kamara is on the back 9. Most RB's begin to fall off at age 30. Kamara will be 30 when next season starts. I get it, its Kamara. So he might fight off father time and delay him a bit, but father time has never been defeated. Ever.

Exactly. This draft is loaded at interior O-line, TE and a few other positions. We can easily add a generational talent like Jeanty and address other positions in this draft.

 

[sfidc3]

You do not draft a RB in the first round, especially with the amount of carries he's had in college. Yeah, there are outliers, but by and large, it's a waste of a pick with other needs we have.

I think 10, even 5 years ago this was the common belief....but I think things are slowly changing and RB's are gaining some value back.

We have many needs, but if the right player at DT, DE, OL is not there when we pick, I would have no problem drafting a RB, or even a WR if they are BPA.....it just depends on how the draft plays out before we pick.....

 

[texasjefe]

I bet you're the guy who also wishes we drafted Lamarr Jackson in 2018 but also in 2018 said "We don't need him we have Brees for the coming year and Teddy Bridgewater".

Nobody said that, except maybe Sean Payton, who fantasy bragged about taking Mahomes in 2017, when he failed to, umm, actually draft Mahomes.

And let's not talk about the 2018 Saints draft. It's being curated in to a major exhibit at The Museum of Arrogant, Incompetent Talent Eval/Drafting.

New coach or Rizzi will influence the 2025 draft in terms of Need/BPA. Too early to talk this guy vs. that guy because as others have said, the needs are too great all over, and certainly at offensive skill positions.

 

[St. Geezy]

Everyone saying yes, we should draft him would be screaming next year about our lack of quality depth on the OL/DL (again).

RB is the easiest position in football to find a suitable starting-caliber player. Drafting Jeanty that high would set us back even further.

Aside from all of that, Jeanty already has a lot of mileage on him (as already pointed out), and he also doesn't seem to do much for you in the passing game.

Pass.

It’s only possible to address OL/DL depth with your rookie first round pick and there are no other options…who knew????

 

[tyler735]

"I'm going to pass on an Adrian Peterson type of generational talent because I can get a Rico Dowdle on day 2". There is zero logic about that.

I’m going to draft Leonard Fournette because he’s a “generational prospect”. Pretending that teams aren’t regularly getting stud RB’s on day 2 (or later) is certainly a take.

Again, you don't draft for the coming season. You draft for 2+ years away. Kamara will be 32. Miller misses more games than he plays. If you think that's an answer at RB in two years, then you lack every bit of foresight imaginable.

I think in what is considered an excellent RB class you surely don’t have to take Jeanty or none at all lol. There are plenty of talented ones in this class even if Jeanty is getting all the hype. Hell look at the 2017 RB class, which I briefly referenced above where Fournette was the “generational” prospect and was arguably ended up as not even a top 10 RB from that draft class alone. While we got Kamara and several other teams got top RB’s on day 2 or later in that draft. RB is probably the easiest position to find a quality player to plug in outside the 1st round.

Regarding Miller, his injuries haven’t really been that severe while with us. Mostly soft tissue related injuries. The next few weeks will likely tell us a lot about Kendre Miller and what he can be for us. I’m also not going to sit here and pretend Kendre was the only player on the Saints dealing with hamstring injuries (and other similar soft tissue injuries) the past couple years. A simple read of our injury reports would certainly seem to indicate a deeper issue with the sheer amount of players ending up with these types of injuries compared to other teams. Changes were made recently with our coach and training staff and from what I can tell early signs have been positive so far on our injury reports.

Miller is clearly very talented and is showing some signs of being the guy we drafted him to be. He’s still only 22 years old. If he were to get hurt again before the season ends I’d probably change my tune on him, but for now, I’m all about seeing what he can do to close out the season. Even if Miller gets hurt, drafting a RB like Kaleb Johnson, Omarion Hampton, or Cam Skattebo on day 2 makes more sense purely from a roster building sense.

The amount of times over the last 10 years a highly drafted early 1st round RB has changed a teams fortunes isn’t exactly a bet any sane person would want to make at this point. Looking at guys like Leonard Fournette, Bijan Robinson, Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley. How many playoff games did those players help get their teams to with the team that drafted them?

The closest to a success in recent years is Jahmyr Gibbs and he’s not even the teams feature back they took a free agent in David Montgomery last year and signed him for peanuts and he’s been in a 50/50 split with Gibbs for 2 seasons now.

I bet you're the guy who also wishes we drafted Lamarr Jackson in 2018 but also in 2018 said "We don't need him we have Brees for the coming year and Teddy Bridgewater".

Comparing a QB with a RB is actually laughable. But in all seriousness I was 100% sold on trading up for Lamar Jackson in that draft as I thought he was one of the best QB prospects I’d seen in 25+ years of following the draft and was pisses we spent it on a DE in Marcus Davenport.

 

[44slayer]

The last 10 Super Bowl champions - only 1 of them had a RB finish in the top 10 in rushing yards.

These are the rankings

16, 12, 8, 16, 14, 39, 12, 18, 25, 18.

No SB champ had a RB finish in the top 5 in the last 10 years and only 1 finished in the top 10. It was Legarette Blount. Far from a generational talent.

 

[SonOfNOLA]

Everyone saying yes, we should draft him would be screaming next year about our lack of quality depth on the OL/DL (again).

RB is the easiest position in football to find a suitable starting-caliber player. Drafting Jeanty that high would set us back even further.

Aside from all of that, Jeanty already has a lot of mileage on him (as already pointed out), and he also doesn't seem to do much for you in the passing game.

Pass.

Get the best playmaker (BPA) in the 1st round, whether it’s Jeanty or someone else. Then draft OL and DL with the next 3 picks in the 2nd and 3rd round. OL and DL can also be the easiest position groups to find immediate starters in the 2nd-3rd round when they’re properly scouted.

Saints are in prime position to possibly get 4 immediate contributors in the first 3 rounds since they have the Commanders 3rd. Its not mandatory to draft a lineman in round 1 just because its the 1st round.

 

[Saint Greg]

Get the best playmaker (BPA) in the 1st round, whether it’s Jeanty or someone else. Then draft OL and DL with the next 3 picks in the 2nd and 3rd round. OL is also the easiest position group to find good starters in the 2nd-3rd round when they’re properly scouted.

Saints are in prime position to possibly get 4 immediate contributors in the first 3 rounds since they have the Commanders 3rd. Its not mandatory to draft a lineman in round 1 just because its the 1st round.

Ignoring our biggest hole (the DL) like that is crazy.

 

[Infoman]

I'd take him if he's there, but I would first try really hard to find someone that wants him that would trade up to draft him.

He's a great player and we do need playmakers, but RBs are just too easy to take out of the game by loading the box or if your OL is bad or injured. It's much harder to do that to a great WR or TE. We saw what happened when even a great RB like AK tried to run behind a terrible line with a bad scheme.

That being said, if you can't get good value in a trade down, you take him and build your offense around his talents.

I get the theory... I just don't think we are in any position to pass on ultra talented players anymore... unless a trade down absolutely gets you one, and not just a lottery ticket... We are in "build a young core" mode... Not "add to compete" mode...

We can no longer think about passing on a Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs... and draft Zach Charbonnet later. That's where I am.

 

[St. Widge]

I get the theory... I just don't think we are in any position to pass on ultra talented players anymore... unless a trade down absolutely gets you one, and not just a lottery ticket... We are in "build a young core" mode... Not "add to compete" mode...

We can no longer think about passing on a Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs... and draft Zach Charbonnet later. That's where I am.

That's fair, it would really depend on who you think would be on the board with a trade back. But, I would prefer if a higher rated DL, WR, or even OL fell to that spot. And, I know you disagree but I'd take Jeanty over Warren.

 

[SonOfNOLA]

Ignoring our biggest hole (the DL) like that is crazy.

DT2 indeed is a major hole. I don’t think the 2nd DT requires a top 10-13 selection.

We’ve invested a lot at DE every year. It makes sense to re-sign DE2 Chase Young, continue developing Foskey under DL coach Brian Young or another line coach, and add a DE in day 2 unless it’s BPA in the 1st. This draft doesn’t seem to have a pass rusher who will be more than the 3rd DE right away.

Saints have needs at almost every position to the point where none are more prioritized than the other. Whichever player is the best player on the board at the time should be selected. Using the 1st round pick based on position would be missing out on better players.

 

[Infoman]

That's fair, it would really depend on who you think would be on the board with a trade back. But, I would prefer if a higher rated DL, WR, or even OL fell to that spot. And, I know you disagree but I'd take Jeantry over Warren.

All good... I am going to have Warren a lot higher than most... Not only is he very talented and super productive and from a major program... He also has a built in day 1 impact set of roles we need to fill for this team in-particular (Taysom Insurance - TE1 - Slot - Contested Catch - Hback) His value is off the charts for us.