METAIRIE — The Saints will not have to answer the LSU question again — unless it happens again.
Center-guard William Clapp became the first LSU player to be drafted by the Saints since 2010 when New Orleans chose him in the seventh round Saturday afternoon with the 245th overall pick.
"My whole family's freaking out right now," Clapp said on a teleconference, though he was with his family just a few minutes away in Metairie.
"He's local. He can probably save some money on rent," Saints coach Sean Payton said.
"I'm pretty pumped that it was me that broke the streak with me growing up as a Saints fan," Clapp said.
Defensive tackle Al Woods of Elton was the last LSU player drafted by the Saints. He was a fourth-round selection in 2010. After 52 years of college drafts, New Orleans is finally in the double digits with LSU players at 10.
Clapp was available, as was LSU offensive tackle Toby Weathersby, in the fourth round Saturday, but the Saints went for lower-ranked offensive tackle Rick Leonard (6-foot-7, 311 pounds) of Florida State with the 27th pick of the fourth and 127th overall selection with their first pick Saturday.
The Saints wanted to find a sixth offensive lineman in this draft. Leonard is viewed as a "project" by NFL.com as he began his career with the Seminoles as a defensive end, but did not perform well in 2015 with only five tackles in 13 games. He was moved to right tackle on the offensive line in 2016 and started six games before starting all 13 games in 2017 at Florida State.
NFL Draft expert Mike Detillier of WWL Radio in New Orleans gave Leonard a 16.43 rating and listed him as his No. 25 offensive tackle — seven spots below Weathersby (6-4, 320) at No. 18 with a 17.00 rating.
"Toby could have used another year of seasoning and skill development at LSU," Detillier said as Weathersby declared for the draft a year early. "He has had a series of injuries (knee, ankle) and heat-related issues, but Toby can play in the NFL. If he can stay healthy, upgrade his pass blocking skills and develop better overall focus."
Clapp (6-4, 312), meanwhile, is Detillier's No. 4 center with a 18.30 rating, and he can also play guard. But the Saints were more in the market for a tackle as they like rookie free agent center signee Cameron Tom of Southern Mississippi who signed in May a year ago.
"Clapp is a gritty, smart, technically sound offensive lineman," Detillier said. "Big body interior player who will start early in his career at either center or guard."
NFL.com also rated Leonard below Weathersby and Clapp on a different numbering scale with a 4.98 to Weathersby's 5.46 and Clapp's 5.30.
Weathersby, though, was never selected in this draft, which finished Saturday with seven rounds. Other LSU players expected to be picked or to have a chance to be picked who were not were running back Darrel Williams, defensive linemen Christian LaCouture and Greg Gilmore, offensive tackle K.J. Malone of Ruston and cornerback Kevin Toliver.
The Saints took safety Natrell Jamerson of Wisconsin in the fifth with the 164th overall pick and cornerback Kamrin Moore of Boston College in the sixth with 189th overall selection.
Then with their second pick of the sixth round, the Saints took a player from the Baton Rouge area, but not from LSU. That was Louisiana Tech running back and kick returner Boston Scott of Zachary High. Scott, a walk-on who visited only Louisiana Tech for its engineering program, gained 1,097 yards on 183 carries with eight touchdowns for the Bulldogs last season and returned 10 kickoffs for 183 yards.
Scott was the first Louisiana Tech player drafted by the Saints since offensive tackle Willie Roaf in the first round in 1993. Roaf played in 11 Pro Bowls during his career and is a member of the Saints Hall of Fame.
The Saints took Scott, who was not ranked by NFL.com or by Detillier, over LSU's Williams, who was given a 5.37 by NFL.com and was Detillier's No. 17 halftback.
"Likely needs time in developmental league," NFL.com said of Scott.
But the Saints were impressed.
"This is amazing," Scott said on a teleconference at the Saints facility Saturday. "This is unreal. I never got a chance to play in New Orleans in high school. I want to make the most of it. It's a blessing."
And Scott never doubted himself.
"I believed it," he said when asked if he thought he would be drafted. "I truly did. I know what I bring to the table."
The first LSU player to be picked on Saturday in the draft overall finally happened late in the sixth round when Atlanta took wide receiver Russell Gage with the 20th pick and 194th overall. Gage is projected as a special teams ace in the NFL.
Then in the seventh, New England surprised many by taking quarterback Danny Etling with the first pick of that round. Etling had a 4.85 ranking by NFL.com, which said he "should be in NFL training camp." Detillier had him as his No. 25 quarterback with a 16.25 rating.
General manager Mickey Loomis did not foresee any trades by the Saints going into Saturday to either move up or down in the draft.
"I think we pretty much shot our gun," Loomis said smiling, referring to the Saints trading their first round pick of 2019 to Green Bay to move from No. 27 in this draft to No. 14 in the first round on Thursday to take defensive end Marcus Davenport of Texas-San Antonio.
"We have to retain some things for the future, so we weren't really coming in with the mindset that we were going to target someone and move up," Loomis said Friday night. "Look, that is always a discussion. We talked a little bit about it a couple times (through the second and third rounds on Friday). But then the player we talked about all of a sudden went off. But I think we kind of like having the amount of picks we have later in this draft. And so it would have been difficult to give up any of those, and then certainly it would be difficult to give up any future picks at this point."
The Saints did not have a second-round pick Friday as they traded that to San Francisco in 2017 to move up in the third round then take running back Alvin Kamara, who won the NFL offensive rookie of the year last season. New Orleans took wide receiver Tre'Quan Smith of Central Florida Friday with the 27th pick of the third round and 91st overall.
Cornerback Donte Jackson was the first LSU player taken in the NFL Draft when he went in the second round on Friday.
Also getting selected on Friday from LSU were tailback Derrius Guice (Washington) and wide receiver D.J. Chark (Jacksonville) in the late second round before defensive end Arden Key was picked late in the fourth round by Oakland.