NFL Draft Expert Mike Detillier appeared on Fourth Down on Four with Scott Cody and offered his analysis of the Saints prospects given that they pick last in every round in the draft.
Detillier: The strength in this draft is at offensive line. They’ll have five offensive lineman go within the top 20 picks. That means you’re going to have some people defensively, especially along the defensive end, defensive tackle spot, that I think will slide to you in the latter part of round one.
I know one thing, at 32, in this draft, which is the deepest I’ve done in the top 100 picks in quite some time, you will have a player fall to you because of team needs that you really wouldn’t get in other drafts.
Cody: So the Saints can have a pretty decent draft considering they’re drafting at the bottom of each round?
Detillier: In 2001 there was a guy who got picked at the 32 spot who turned out to be pretty good. His name was Drew Brees and this is a much deeper draft than that 2001 draft. There might be an opportunity to pick a defensive player like a Sean Weatherspoon from Missouri, or a defensive tackle like a Brian Price from UCLA, that might not have been there in other drafts. It’s very deep.
The wild card in all this, and I’ll say it now, is Colt McCoy from Texas. I think somebody, late in round one, if he’s still on the board, will get an interesting call from someone in the top 10 in round two, trying to get up to get McCoy.
Cody: So the Saints could maybe make a move in round one if someone covets McCoy?
Detillier: No question about it and the thing is if McCoy goes off the board earlier, that pushes down another defensive player to you, so either way you end up in a pretty good spot.
Cody: The Saints have two guys from last year’s draft, Stanley Arnoux and Chip Vaughn who sat out basically with a red shirt. How will their progression and the fact that they’ll basically come back as rookies, affect the way that they approach this draft?
Detillier: It’s almost like having a couple of extra picks and you could almost throw Rod Harper in there as a wide receiver who earned a roster spot early on before he got hurt. You’ve got three players, so that will help, but to be honest with you, if you take a look at what is the weakness on this team it would be at defensive tackle, defensive end and to bring in another outside linebacker. And, other than Arnoux, none of those guys play those positions.
The hardest thing to find, on Draft Day, other than a really top flight quarterback, is a defensive tackle, and so if you have one up on the board, and a weight issue or an off the field problem is not there, you gotta take a real hard look at that because, as you saw late in the season, teams gashed the Saints by running the football. Even in the Super Bowl, the Colts weren’t a great running team, but they ran the football effectively in that contest. You have to be able to shore up the weak areas on your team and I think that’s something in this league that you learn real quick – if you don’t get better, and you stand pat, you fall behind.
