With the 9th Pick in the 2025 draft, who should the Saints select? (merged) (13 Viewers)

[nakadish]

I will never understand the logic of we have spend a lot of high picks on OL and DL but still have a sheetty OL and DL so we should stop drafting players on the OL and DL. It doesn't matter how many picks you have spend on OL and DL, you have to find a way to make them better. That can be through the draft or through free agency. But, this team has no money to spend in free agency so it has to be through the draft.

You don't force a DL or OL pick at #9 if the value isn't there, but it would be dumb to not take an OL or DL at #9 if they are BPA just because you have already invested a lot of resources that resulted in a sheetty OL and DL.

Remind me of the definition of insanity again? How about we try something different if something isn't working after like the 5th time?

 

[St. Widge]

Agreed. I think Penning is solid, but certainly not worth his draft grade. And Fuaga played pretty well for a rookie, but not as well as most expected, although much of that may be because of the play of the guy next to him.

But the point still remains. The Saints have 3 #1 picks and a #2, and the D-line has 4 #1 picks. The Saints HAVE been trying to build the trenches while ignoring other positions, and where has that gotten them? Besides Olave, when have the Saints not drafted O-line or D-line in the first round.

The Saints were at their best under Payton when they had high round draft picks at the skill positions - Reggie Bush, Meachem, Henderson, and a O-line made up of mostly lower round draft picks - except tackle.

When they went away from that model, what happened? They had Drew behind a solid O-line throwing to UDFA receivers and they got beat in the playoffs because they didn't match up talent wise. Teams could double MT and there was nobody else to hurt them.

It's not a mistake that most of the top playmakers in the NFL came from the top of the draft.

Right now all teams have to do is double Olave, and force someone else to beat them. We don't have that guy on the team so the Saints will lose no matter how good the O-line is till they get more playmakers.

The Saints best WRs with Payton were not high round picks outside of MT who was a 2nd round pick later in Payton's career. The Super Bowl team was built on a 7th round pick. Meachum was a bust. And Henderson never lived up to being a 2nd round pick although he did become a good deep threat after a few years.

So it's not really fair to say that we were good because we spent high round picks on WRs and RBs. We were good despite bad picks at WR. Mostly because Drew Brees could throw anyone open.

 

[Dallas_Saint73]

Jeanty at 9. Then O-line, DT, EDGE. CB in later rounds (not in that particular order).

 

[St. Widge]

Remind me of the definition of insanity again? How about we try something different if something isn't working after like the 5th time?

That's a cute cliche, but how are you going to fix the OL and DL without drafting players on the OL and DL while we are $60 plus million over the cap?

 

[nakadish]

The Saints best WRs with Payton were not high round picks outside of MT who was a 2nd round pick later in Payton's career. The Super Bowl team was built on a 7th round pick. Meachum was a bust. And Henderson never lived up to being a 2nd round pick although he did become a good deep threat after a few years.

So it's not really fair to say that we were good because we spent high round picks on WRs and RBs. We were good despite bad picks at WR. Mostly because Drew Brees could throw anyone open.

True, but Payton also tried the rest of his career to find a Colston, but never was able to duplicate it. Colston was an outlier, not something you can count on getting latter in the draft when you've been sucking for a few years.

 

[guillermo]

This is an interesting discussion, but to be honest, I think we simply have to go BPA.

Like it or not, if we are lucky, we are in a 3 year rebuild to be competitive again.

We need as many picks as we can. And we need to build a competitive team around Carr, who will keep the position until we have a young franchise quarterback.

I don't mind to have 2 very bad years if we see improvements in attitude and competitiveness. That happened in Detroit. First two years of Campbell, the results didn't come, but you see they were getting somewhere.

I am all for starting building the lines first, but if there is a much better option a different postion, I may go out and take it.

 

[tyler735]

At this point, I’m on board for Mason Graham, or Tetairoa if available when we pick at #9. However it seems doubtful that will be the case.

If neither is on the board still, I’d see if we could trade down to either Dallas at 12 or Denver at 20. Looking at the teams behind us, those 2 teams stick out as teams potentially willing to trade up for Jeanty. Obviously if it was Denver they would need to give more in a trade scenario, which isn’t all that bad. If we were able to trade down in either of those scenarios, I’d have Tre Harris and Tyler Warren as my top 2 targets after a trade down while picking up an extra 2nd (and ideally an extra 3rd if Denver trades).

If we can’t trade down, then I’m all in on Jeanty getting arguably the best player in this draft at pick #9 even though it’s not our biggest need. I’d then want at least 1 of Harold Fannin, Orande Gadsden II, or Jayden Higgins on day 2 of the draft. Still really want a bigger bodied receiving threat with reliable hands that can consistently win in contested catch situations and move the chains for us.

 

[nakadish]

That's a cute cliche, but how are you going to fix the OL and DL without drafting players on the OL and DL while we are $60 plus million over the cap?

We do need to fix the O-line and D-line. But we can't ignore everything else for years on end, either. We've been focusing on O-line and D-line for years, and those haven't panned out, and we don't have any talent at other positions now either. I'm just say that we should spread out the high round draft picks to more than one position group.

And I would argue that WR, TE, and RB outside of Kamara are weaker position groups than O-line or D-line.

 

[Infoman]

That's a cute cliche, but how are you going to fix the OL and DL without drafting players on the OL and DL while we are $60 plus million over the cap?

You are not... at least not this year... The point is... We have drafted OL and DL in every draft in the 1st and/or 2nd round for the last decade... 4/5ths of our OL are made up of those picks just since 2019....

At some point... the "fix" has to be that the guys you drafted already... ARE THE FIX! Doubling down on failures has gotten us no-flipping-where...

The cliche is that we somehow have to "keep doing what we are doing" even though it has yet to produce anything resembling a NFL offense...

 

[St. Widge]

True, but Payton also tried the rest of his career to find a Colston, but never was able to duplicate it. Colston was an outlier, not something you can count of getting latter in the draft when you've been sucking for a few years.

I don't disagree. I don't have an issue with drafting a WR or RB for that matter if they really are BPA regardless of how many times you have tried and failed drafting WR high. I mean Cooks and Olave were/are good players, but neither really turned out to be worth the picked used on them. But I don't buy the idea that you stop drafting them because you have missed before and I don't buy the idea that you stop drafting OL/DL because you have missed before and still have a sheetty OL and DL. So, if it turns out that OL or DL is BPA at #9 you take them.

The truth is that it was Payton that pushed for Marcus Williams and Payton Turner and he is gone now. And if he did it based on DA saying they would be good, DA is gone too.

The last two picks we spent on DL/OL - Breese and Fuaga - have actually worked out pretty well.

 

[Covington Saint]

The last two picks we spent on DL/OL - Breese and Fuaga - have actually worked out pretty well.

take away breese's sack production and you aren't left with a whole lot of promise. maybe breese is a guy that needs that dominant big sidekick next to him. Partly why Grant from Michigan intrigues me a bit in draft.

 

[St. Widge]

We do need to fix the O-line and D-line. But we can't ignore everything else for years on end, either. We've been focusing on O-line and D-line for years, and those haven't panned out, and we don't have any talent at other positions now either. I'm just say that we should spread out the high round draft picks to more than one position group.

And I would argue that WR, TE, and RB outside of Kamara are weaker position groups than O-line or D-line.

I didn't say we should ignore everything else for years. I'm all for BPA regardless of position. Especially for this team who needs help everywhere. I just don't think Jeanty is really a generational talent and that there is better value at RB in the 2nd through 4th rounds so I would rather trade down if Jeanty is BPA at #9.

Frankly, the player I really want in this draft is McMillian but I doubt he falls to #9.

I disagree that any position is weaker than DL. We essentially have one average player in Granderson and one good pass rushing DT that can't play the run in Breese. That is weaker than any other position group. At WR we have Olave and Shaheed (with Means as a bit of an unknown). At TE we have a solid TE in Moreau who could catch more passes if he didn't have to stay in to block to protect a weak OL and Taysom Hill. At RB we have Kamara and Miller who when healthy appears to be a very good back. I understand that people are down on him due to the injuries, but not much he can do about a concussion and when he plays he is good. Regardless Kamara is very good and carries most of the load anyway.

 

[sfidc3]

games are still won and lost in the trenches. I know we lack playmakers,but we need to start rebuilding both lines

Agreed, though I would also state with so many needs (yes, we do need playmakers at WR, TE and RB but also need DT, DE, S and OL help as well) I'm fine with drafting players at any number of positions if they are the BPA.....

There is no correct formula here, the draft is a crapshoot....you have to find the right player and hope they can stay healthy, pure luck is a factor.....

 

[St. Widge]

take away breese's sack production and you aren't left with a whole lot of promise. maybe breese is a guy that needs that dominant big sidekick next to him. Partly why Grant from Michigan intrigues me a bit in draft.

I don't disagree. Breese needs at lot of work as a run defender and yes, he needs a big NT next to him. Just saying that so far he is worth the pick used on him given that it is hard to find guys that get pressure on the QB from the DT position.