2018 Daily Norseman Community Mock Draft: New Orleans Saints, Pick #27

We’re just a couple of days away from the most important pick of our 2018 Daily Norseman Community Mock Draft, but we still have to get through a few more teams to get there. Let’s review how the last five selections have gone for our mock.

22. Buffalo Bills (from Kansas City Chiefs) - Leighton Vander Esch, LB, Boise State

23. New England Patriots (from Los Angeles Rams) - Isaiah Oliver, CB, Colorado

24. Carolina Panthers - Josh Jackson, CB, Iowa

25. Tennessee Titans - Marcus Davenport, DE, Texas-San Antonio

26. Atlanta Falcons - Taven Bryan, DT, Florida

As always, if you want to review all of the picks, you can do so right here.

Now, we come to the New Orleans Saints with the 27th overall pick. We know what happened to the Saints at the end of last year, and rather than sit here and rub it in, let’s take a look at what they might be looking towards in this year’s NFL Draft.

New Orleans Saints

2017 record: 11-5 (1st place, NFC South)

Offseason acquisitions

OL Jermon Bushrod (free agent signing), S Kurt Coleman (free agent signing), LB Demario Davis (free agent signing), CB Patrick Robinson (free agent signing), QB Tom Savage (free agent signing), TE Ben Watson (free agent signing)

Offseason losses

S Rafael Bush (signed with Buffalo), QB Chase Daniel (signed with Chicago), LB Jonathan Freeny (signed with Detroit), OL Senio Kelemete (signed with Houston)

Team needs

Cornerback - Marshon Lattimore obviously looks like a star in the making, but he could use some help. Delvin Breaux is likely penciled in as the other starter, but he’s coming off of an injury. Like we’ve said for a lot of teams, you can never have enough depth at corner, and it’s something the Saints could use.

Defensive end - Cameron Jordan is locked in on one side, and he’s great, obviously owing to his outstanding genetics and upbringing. On the other side, Alex Okafor is coming off of a knee injury and Trey Hendrickson is still unproven, so they could use a guy that can get after the quarterback.

Interior offensive line - The tackle positions are set for the Saints, but they could use some players on the interior to, at the very least, provide depth.

Quarterback - I mean, Drew Brees can’t just go on indefinitely, right? Right?

Tight end - The Saints used to utilize the tight end a lot when Jimmy Graham was in town, but it’s become more of an afterthought in recent seasons. They could stand to give Brees someone to work the middle of the field.

Options

Jaire Alexander, CB, Louisville - The next corner up after we’ve seen a few go off of the board, Alexander is a solid player that can get the job done in either man or zone coverage. He also has some skills as a return specialist, whether or not the Saints could use him in that capacity.

Dallas Goedert, TE, South Dakota State - Goedert might need a little bit of time to adjust to the NFL game after playing at a smaller school, but he has the size and speed needed to create all sorts of mismatches for opposing defenses to deal with. He’s not Jimmy Graham or anything. . .not yet, anyway. . .but he is probably the best tight end in this year’s draft.

Harold Landry, DE, Boston College - Landry is a guy that played both standing up and with his hand in the dirt for Boston College. He had a huge 2016 season, posting 16.5 sacks, and while he didn’t put up numbers like that in 2017, he is viewed as a potentially special pass rusher at the NFL level.

Billy Price, OL, Ohio State - The Saints had Andrus Peat end this past season on injured reserve, and they lost their top backup on the interior in Kelemete. Price would be able to step in and, at the very least, provide outstanding depth at all three of the interior line positions for the Saints.

Mason Rudolph, QB, Oklahoma State - The Saints re-signed Brees to a two-year deal this offseason, but at some point they need to start taking the search for a replacement seriously. Rudolph would be the sixth quarterback off the board in Round 1, but there’s increasing talk that it could happen.

That’s a look at the New Orleans Saints, folks. On Monday, we’ll have the Pittsburgh Steelers at #28, followed on Tuesday by the Jacksonville Jaguars at #29. That means the most important team in the NFL will be up on Wednesday, which will take us right up to the start of the 2018 NFL Draft.