With the 9th Pick in the 2025 draft, who should the Saints select? (merged) (22 Viewers)

[DSnfla]

Nothing to show for it?

We have arguably the 2nd most important position in football LT locked down for the next decade. An all pro level center, hopefully a RT for the future as well.

The first two weeks of the year we dominated lead by our OLine before all hell broke loose with injuries.

OL is not a "win now" position group like RB is so you won't see instant success. You build it up the. build off it.

I'm with you on thinking that OL is not the most needed group
I can't do the Fuaga is a lock @ LT for the next 10 yrs. He kind of tailored off starting mid season . Hopefully he takes the next step season 2. We need a quality backup foe McCoy because he's had injury issues the last couple seasons
An upgrade is needed @ OG

DL is a much bigger need

 

[WhoDat?DrewDat]

I'm with you on thinking that OL is not the most needed group
I can't do the Fuaga is a lock @ LT for the next 10 yrs. He kind of tailored off starting mid season . Hopefully he takes the next step season 2. We need a quality backup foe McCoy because he's had injury issues the last couple seasons
An upgrade is needed @ OG

DL is a much bigger need

Fuaga shut down Micah and Myles in his rookie year. That's about as good as you could possibly hope for as a rookie LT. There's zero reason to believe he cannot be our LT for the next decade plus.

 

[DSnfla]

Translate that into the Win column please
We had most of those guys last year. Didn’t do much
We still had premium picks across the Oline the year before that.
Didn’t do much

Let’s talk about the Rams. On their OLine right now, they have two 2nd rd, 4th rd, 6th rd, and a UDFA playing right now.
What are we doing?

There are sometimes gems on the OL to be found but you can't count on them. We have found them in the past Like Evens and Strief . And all but Fuaga have been late 1sts or 2nds

 

[DSnfla]

Fuaga shut down Micah and Myles in his rookie year. That's about as good as you could possibly hope for as a rookie LT. There's zero reason to believe he cannot be our LT for the next decade plus.

Yes he had some good games but his grades are not impressive and he made some bad rookie mistakes. It's not like he's Willie Roaf or even Armstead yet

 

[rlemieux]

Fuaga shut down Micah and Myles in his rookie year. That's about as good as you could possibly hope for as a rookie LT. There's zero reason to believe he cannot be our LT for the next decade plus.

I know PFF isn’t the end all be all but Fuaga graded out as the 49th ranked tackle this year. He had far more downs than ups.

 

[DSnfla]

I personally wanted the Saints to draft Marcus Trufant. I thought it was obvious they were going to take Trufant when they got on the clock. I would have settled for any player besides the one they picked. But that's what happens when people are blinded by perceived temporary needs. In hindsight, that "need" at DL was low in comparison to having an actual contributing player on defense at any position.



It's poor talent evaluation because they ignored better players to reach for need. Try this scenario.

Knowing what you know, if the following players were available in the 3rd round this year when the Saints were on the clock, who would you pick? How would you rank them for the Saints to pick? And yes, the idea is that you know what the first 8 seasons of these players' careers will look like. Using this info, who would you pick first for the Saints today, in 2025, out of this cloud of players that were similarly ranked by teams in 2017? And again yes, you would be adding a fresh out of college Kamara to a back field that includes 8 year veteran Kamara if that's your choice.

Ahkello Witherspoon, CB, Colorado, position rank #14 (according to ESPN)
Alvin Kamara, RB, Tennessee, position rank #4
Dewayne Smoot, DE, Illinois, position rank #9
Cooper Kupp, WR, Eastern Washington, position rank #7
Pat Elflien, Center, OSU, position rank #1
Dan Freeney, OG, Indiana, position rank #3

LOL so you have a crystal ball??? And I can guarantee you that ESPN and teams big boards are different. I can go thru every teams draft and at almost every pick say we should have picked this player 5 yrs after the draft

 

[DSnfla]

Bresee has been a disappointment for me this year. I understand on paper his stats look nice but his neither his play against the run and pass rush win rate are at acceptable levels.

Majority of his sacks came from stunts and coverage sacks. I can't remember the last time he beat his man with a move.

Hopefully he's able to improve as his career goes on, by no means is he at his ceiling.

Foskey on the other hand... just unbelievable how awful of a pick that was. Maybe the worst pick in the last 10 years for the Saints. Branch was RIGHT THERE.

Yes BB needs work in the run game but he has no help next to him and he's playing out of position,. PFF grading on DTs is way off. It's either they win the rep or lose it. They don;t count batted passes and he does that a lot

 

[DSnfla]

If Carter Tmac and Graham are gone and Dallas is willing to give up this years first, next years first and this years second, I say yes.

I'm with you if those 3 are gone. I'd even take less to swap with Dallas. Give me this and next yrs 2nd and swap and I'd do the deal

 

[DSnfla]

That's the thing with trade backs, we can't just decide to trade back. Take and make all the phone calls you want, if no one wants to trade up, we can't trade back. The real question is how appealing is the 9th pick? And really how much value will teams be willing to give up?

For me if T-Mac , Graham or Carter are gone I'd have no problem taking a 2nd and a 2nd or 3rd next yr to drop 10 spots. After pick 12-15 no one jumps out at me but there's value late 1st and 2nd

 

[DSnfla]

I know PFF isn’t the end all be all but Fuaga graded out as the 49th ranked tackle this year. He had far more downs than ups.

Overall he's 53rd out of all the OTs . So every team has 2 starting OTs that's 64 starting OTs in the league and he's 53rd out of 64 . I think the kid will be good but I'm not ready to crown him the next Roaf or Armstead

 

[TruSaint]

Overall he's 53rd out of all the OTs . So every team has 2 starting OTs that's 64 starting OTs in the league and he's 53rd out of 64 . I think the kid will be good but I'm not ready to crown him the next Roaf or Armstead

He was a rookie, playing a new position, next to a terrible left guard. I’m not worried about him at all. Dude gave Myles Garrett the business.

 

[livefromDC]

LOL so you have a crystal ball??? And I can guarantee you that ESPN and teams big boards are different. I can go thru every teams draft and at almost every pick say we should have picked this player 5 yrs after the draft

It's not about having a crystal ball, it's about improving your odds. If LSU could only choose one high school player to add to their team this year but there's one catch. Before they could choose the player they had the choice to take the player from 1 of 2 locations, either Napoleonville or New Orleans. Both places have produced NFL talent, but I bet we both know which location LSU would pick. New Orleans has a bigger pool to choose from. When you suggest picking need, you arbitrarily limit the draft pool thereby decreasing the chances of drafting the best player.

So I've explained it yet again. Can you answer the question now? If you believe in the stance you're taking, it should be easy to answer. Which player are you taking in this scenario?
Knowing what you know, if the following players were available in the 3rd round this year when the Saints were on the clock, who would you pick? How would you rank them for the Saints to pick? And yes, the idea is that you know what the first 8 seasons of these players' careers will look like. Using this info, who would you pick first for the Saints today, in 2025, out of this cloud of players that were similarly ranked by teams in 2017? And again yes, you would be adding a fresh out of college Kamara to a back field that includes 8 year veteran Kamara if that's your choice.

Ahkello Witherspoon, CB, Colorado, position rank #14 (according to ESPN)
Alvin Kamara, RB, Tennessee, position rank #4
Dewayne Smoot, DE, Illinois, position rank #9
Cooper Kupp, WR, Eastern Washington, position rank #7
Pat Elflien, Center, OSU, position rank #1
Dan Freeney, OG, Indiana, position rank #3

 

[WhoDat?DrewDat]

I know PFF isn’t the end all be all but Fuaga graded out as the 49th ranked tackle this year. He had far more downs than ups.

That's actually not how PFF works. A 50 is an even grade of positive and negative plays.

Anything over 50 means on tape they have more positive than negative plays. So technically Fuaga had far more ups than downs.

Bresee is an example of someone who was far more downs than ups. (218/219 iDL agains the run, literally pathetic)

But let's put everything into perspective here are all the 1st round OTs.

5th overall Alt: 77.6 (Right tackle)
14th overall Fuaga: 65.7 (Left tackle)
20th overall Fautanu: 64.4 (Right Tackle)
7th overall JC Latham: 61.8 (Left Tackle)
11th overall Olu: 61.2 (Left Tackle)
18th overall Mims: 57.8 (Right Tackle)
29th overall Guyton: 49.4 (Left Tackle)

So of all the first round OTs, Fuaga was graded the 2nd highest and the 1st highest rated LT.