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It would be fair to say that the New Orleans Saints are still living in the difficult aftermath of life without Drew Brees. The Saints have yet to secure a long-term quarterback, and will go into the 2024 season with Derek Carr under center once again.
New Orleans and Dennis Allen aren’t going to get one of the elite quarterback prospects in this draft, and there isn’t necessarily a player who will be better than Carr in the later rounds.
The biggest need on paper is on the offensive line, with the team likely to take an offensive tackle with their first selection in the draft. However, if a player who's too good to turn down drops, the Saints won’t hesitate to deviate from the plan.
Apart from needing a player on the O-Line, the Saints also need help on the defensive line. They need a defensive tackle to solidify their interior defense.
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On offense, there's a gap for a wide receiver for Derek Carr to throw to, and this is where the draft could get interesting. If an elite receiver drops, they could move up and select him if possible. That could be a revolutionary move for an offense that has stagnated in recent years.
New Orleans Saints 2024 NFL mock draft scenarios
Saints mock draft: Best-case scenario
Dennis Allen and the New Orleans Saints staying at #14 and coming away with Malik Nabers is a scenario so good that it’s barely believable.
Nobody expects any of the three generational wide receiving talents to fall out of the top-7, never mind all the way to the 14th overall selection. The Saints don’t need to think about this: they take Malik Nabers and he immediately becomes their best WR and a massive upgrade for Derek Carr to throw to.
Carr is a player who does the simple things well, and giving him an elite talent out of the box could be the key to unlocking the Saints’ offense. Of course, selecting Nabers at no.14 leaves the Saints without the option to take one of the better offensive tackles in the draft class.
However, they are gaining so much at WR that they can live with it. In this best-case scenario provided by Sportskeeda’s 7-round Mock Draft simulator, the team is able to add Roger Rosengarten to play at tackle and start immediately.
Rosengarten is large and athletic and blocks with incredible football IQ. He has a sense of where holes can be created and he stops defenders from filling them. Rosengarten has consistently improved over the last two seasons and will likely continue to do so.
He isn’t limited to run-blocking either. He can quickly drop into pass protection, and this will be a huge help to both Derek Carr and Malik Nabers, with the Saints likely to prioritize the passing game after that earlier selection.
The next area of need is on the defensive line with Jordan Jefferson coming out of LSU to play defensive tackle. Jefferson has gained a lot of draft hype in recent months, but he is able to use his power and strength to gain leverage over offensive linemen.
His weakest attribute is pass rushing. He has the physical ability to get into good positions, but he often struggles to finish plays. He needs to develop that area of his game, but would add a degree of improvement in defending the run. For the value of this selection, the Saints could feel pretty good.
Derek Carr, obviously, isn’t a long-term solution at QB for the Saints and the team will need to draft a quarterback eventually. It wouldn’t hurt to grab a development prospect and let them sit and learn under Carr and see if they grab a steal.
Joe Milton has a cannon of an arm, perhaps the strongest in the class, and if he is taught better basics and game-management skills, the Saints could extract good value in future years.
Here's how the Saints’ best-case scenario played out:
· Malik Nabers, WR, LSU
· Roger Rosengarten, OT, Washington
· Jordan Jefferson, DT, LSU
· Dylan McMahon, OG, NC State
· Joe Milton, QB, Tennessee
· Myles Cole, EDGE, Texas Tech
· JD Bertrand, LB, Notre Dame
· Myles Harden, CB, South Dakota
· Cody Schrader, RB, Missouri
Saints mock draft: Worst-case scenario
For the Saints, the worst-case scenario would see them fail to select either a wide receiver or OT with their first selection in the draft.
Quinyon Mitchell out of Toledo has good ball skills, but the Saints don’t need a CB this high. Even if the position is one which should be addressed, it’s for the later rounds. You don’t take a corner when there are players like Jordan Morgan, Troy Fautanu and Kingsley Suamataia still on the board.
Taking a running back with their next pick is also difficult to understand. Alvin Kamara is on the roster, and you still haven’t addressed needs at either left or right tackle.
As this draft progresses, the Saints aren’t getting stronger, which is a dangerous line to tread.
Andrew Coker is the only offensive lineman taking in this class. Coming out of TCU he has promise, but the Saints didn’t need to rely on a development pick here. They had a great shot to get at least one of the NFL-ready offensive tackles in this class and in this scenario they fumbled it completely.
Here’s the picks in full:
· Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo
· Trey Benson, RB, Florida State
· Kris Jenkins, DT, Michigan
· Andrew Coker, OT, TCU
· Gabriel Murphy, EDGE, UCLA
· Joshua Karty, K, Stanford
· Jaheim Bell, TE, Florida State
