The Saints have had the least draft picks of any team over the last 5 years. (1 Viewer)

shrike3000

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I've been harping on this for a while. We got blindsided by "Bounty Gate," but even before losing those picks the FO has had a propensity to trade away draft picks for FAs or to move up in the draft without great results.
 
and, up until last year. didnt we have the most wins in the last 3 years? seems to be working when payton is here. but our weaknesses were even more evident when payton was gone.
 
Yeah it's a good point that we have been successful and productive despite it, I was just really surprised. And with things like the Barrett Ruud trade it doesnt seem like anything has changed.
 
There has to be a reason or rationale for the way we dispense and use our draft picks. I can't even remember a draft where we had more than 5 picks. UDFA has kept us afloat. If it wasn't for that we would be in sore shape.
 
There has to be a reason or rationale for the way we dispense and use our draft picks. I can't even remember a draft where we had more than 5 picks. UDFA has kept us afloat. If it wasn't for that we would be in sore shape.

The best thing I can rationalize is that they know our scouting department is crap and try to take player recruitment out of their hands as much as possible.
 
2006 - traded for scott shanle
early 2008 - traded for vilma for our 2008 4th and 2009 3rd round picks.
late 2008 - traded shockey for our 2009 2nd and 5th round picks.

thats 4 picks for 2 players that were a BIG part of our 2009 team. cant blame them for that.

i cant find what exactly we traded for shanle, but he started a ton of games for us in these last few years. hes not the best in the league or even our team. but hes played enough games to warrant the pick.

i cant remember other picks traded. i know a 1st in 2012 for ingram in 2011 and ruud this year. but cant think of others off the top of my head.
 
2006 - traded for scott shanle
early 2008 - traded for vilma for our 2008 4th and 2009 3rd round picks.
late 2008 - traded shockey for our 2009 2nd and 5th round picks.

thats 4 picks for 2 players that were a BIG part of our 2009 team. cant blame them for that.

i cant find what exactly we traded for shanle, but he started a ton of games for us in these last few years. hes not the best in the league or even our team. but hes played enough games to warrant the pick.

i cant remember other picks traded. i know a 1st in 2012 for ingram in 2011 and ruud this year. but cant think of others off the top of my head.

Looking at the 2007 draft results on Wiki, Dallas got an extra 7th round pick from New Orleans. I'm guessing that was for the Shanle trade.
 
I love Loomis and think he is a top 3 GM in the league. He lacks the football knowledge that some other GM's have and that is a good thing. He allows the coaches and scouts to do what they are best at then he makes moves based on what they tell him.

However, he isn't perfect. We are too care free with draft picks and sometimes wait too long to re-sign our younger players. I can't think of many cases in which Loomis has ever negotiated a contract prior to the last minute with players still on their rookie contract. This works in our favor many times but when it doesn't it costs us huge money.

The difference between 22 draft picks from the Pats and Saints is huge. Just as an example I'll split the difference and go back 3 years and pick out 22 players drafted toward the end of the third and beginning of the 4th round.
3 88 Andre Roberts WR
3 89 Armanti Edwards WR
3 90 Taylor Price WR
3 91 Navorro Bowman† LB
3 92 Shawn Lauvao OT
3 93 Tony Moeaki TE
3 94 Kevin Thomas CB
3 95 Jimmy Graham† TE
3* 96 Brandon Ghee CB
3* 97 Rennie Curran LB
3* 98 Mike Johnson OG
4 99 SMardy Gilyard WR
4 100 Everson Griffen DE
4 101 Mike Williams WR
4 102 Darryl Sharpton LB
4 103 Perry Riley LB
4 104 Alterraun Verner CB
4 105 Trevard Lindley CB
4 106 Bruce Campbell OT
4 107 Marcus Easley WR
4 108 Jacoby Ford WR
4 109 Corey Wootton

It may not seem like much because a lot of these guys never did anything or haven't done much in the NFL but out of those 22 picks you have a receiver coming off almost 1000 yards receiving. A returner and deep threat in Jacoby Jones. A receiver who started most of the games last season in Andre Roberts. A playmaker at corner in Alterraun Verner and a LB that started the last 24 games in Washington with Perry Riley.

Comparing them to the Patriots isn't really fair because they did have some veteran players they moved to rack up a lot of those picks. Even if you compare them to the league average the Saints have had 8 less picks. To put that in comparison here are the 15th player selected in each round from the same draft.

1) Jason Pierre Paul
2) Daryl Washington
3) Brandon Lafell
4) Aaron Hernandez
5) Cam Thomas
6) Adrian Tracy
7) Mark Mariani

All the sudden instead of paying Will Smith we have a much better player in JPP playing on his rookie deal. We have two very good 34 ILB's and don't give Lofton the big contract. We have our complimentary TE to Jimmy Graham and one of the better receiving TEs in the league.
 
This also leads to tight cap problems also because you arent supplemening old overvalued players with young cheap talent.

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I've always been a fan of the Patriots style, stockpile as many picks as you can, even if it means trading players, it gives you so much more flexibility at draft time.

Wish we were more like them when it comes to draft time...
 
The Jets, Pats, and Saints have the highest number of undrafted players on the 53.
 
There has to be a reason or rationale for the way we dispense and use our draft picks. I can't even remember a draft where we had more than 5 picks. UDFA has kept us afloat. If it wasn't for that we would be in sore shape.

I think it's UDFA. We tried to acquire picks the first two years Payton was here, if you remember. Moving numerous players for picks. Two things have happened

1) we've had repeated and sometimes tremendous success in UDFA which I think gave the FO and coaches confidence to be free with trading away lower round draft picks

2) Payton has stocked up on "his guys" and actively retained many of them despite their being reserves/backups. Which is consequential because it means fewer available spots for younger players to develop in.


The last point is particularly overlooked. When you retain some 7 or more offensive linemen year to year, or 5 wide receivers year to year, those "bottom of the roster" spots for young rookies are very limited. Combined with the confidence the staff seems to have in being able to just bring in 3 or 4 UDFAs and find one with promise, "stockpiling picks" doesn't seem to hold much value with them.

It has, largely, been successful I think actually. If you want continuity and a veteran team, and Payton clearly values that, then this is a way to go.

I don't know what the numbers are now but not that long ago they found the Saints were one of two teams with a clear lead in UDFAs on the roster. The other was the Dungy/Caldwell/Manning Colts who had very similar priorities.


That said. My MAIN criticism isn't the handling of the lower draft picks, it's the burning up of hire draft picks like the Mark Ingram trade. If they feel confident giving up a 6th rounder because they feel they can get as good a player in UDFa, fine, whatever. Evidence suggests they are correct. But a first and a second rounder for Mark Ingram?
 

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