NFL Draft 2011: New Orleans Saints Team Draft Retrospective

This article is part of a series that looks at each NFL team’s recent draft history, with the hope of extracting information about the way they think and the players they value. The analysis is limited to the past five drafts in the interest of relevance, and the first three rounds because that’s where most impact players are taken.

This entry will focus on the New Orleans Saints.

Draft History

In the past five years, the Saints have taken the following players in the early rounds. Their positions and the rounds in which they were drafted are listed next to their names.

2006:   Reggie Bush, RB (1)

           Roman Harper, S (2)

2007:   Robert Meachem, WR (1)

           Usama Young, CB (3)

           Andy Alleman, G (3)

2008:   Sedrick Ellis, DT (1)

           Tracy Porter, CB (2)

2009:   Malcolm Jenkins, CB (1)

2010:   Patrick Robinson, CB (1)

           Charles Brown, OT (2)

           Jimmy Graham, TE (3)

Break Down by Position

Here is the number of players the Saints have drafted for each position:

Cornerback: 4

Defensive tackle: 1

Guard: 1

Offensive tackle: 1

Running back: 1

Safety: 1

Tight end: 1

Wide receiver: 1

Impact

Much has been made of Reggie Bush failing to live up to expectations, and considering he was drafted second overall, that’s probably fair. However, even if he hasn’t been the perennial All-Pro feature back the Saints thought they were getting, he’s still made a nice career for himself, contributing as a speed back, receiver, and punt returner.

Roman Harper, Tracy Porter, and Malcolm Jenkins have all contributed in the secondary. Robert Meachem is a quality receiver, and Jimmy Graham looks ready to take over for the recently departed Jeremy Shockey at tight end. Sedrick Ellis has been a stalwart on the defensive line.

Most importantly, this group helped the Saints win their first Super Bowl in franchise history.

Trends

Apparently, the Saints love their defensive backs. Of the 11 picks they’ve had in this span, nearly half (five) were used to update the secondary. Three of them have panned out as well, with the jury out on a fourth one (Patrick Robinson), so the scouting department deserves a ton of credit there.

No other position saw multiple players picked, so it’s hard to draw any real conclusions. However, it’s worth noting how willing the Saints have been to part with their early draft picks. Most of the time, this is a very questionable front office strategy, but the fact that it’s worked out for the Saints is a testament to their coaching and management of free agency and the trade market. They’ve also hit on some later round draft picks (e.g. Jahri Evans) and early picks in previous drafts (e.g. Will Smith).

2011 Outlook

Despite a mild Super Bowl hangover, the Saints still put together a very strong season only to suffer an embarrassing playoff loss to the 7-9 Seahawks. Though it’s foolish to panic over one game, the defeat emphasized the need for some upgrades in the front seven.

Defensive line is probably the Saints’ greatest need. Half of it is manned by the stellar duo of Will Smith and Sedrick Ellis, but the other half could be upgraded. An intriguing possibility is DE Da’Quan Bowers (Clemson) slipping to them because of concerns over his ailing knee. Two months ago, Bowers was in consideration to go first overall, so if the Saints believe his knee won’t be a long term issue, they could wind up getting the biggest steal of the draft.

If they are concerned medically, they have some other great options in Justin Houston (Georgia) and Adrian Clayborn (Iowa). If they prefer to prioritize tackles, they also have some tremendous choices like Marvin Austin (North Carolina) and Muhammad Wilkerson (Temple). They’re in the very enviable position of having their top needs match the best available talent.

Linebacker will also probably be addressed, as they are a little thin there after Jonathan Vilma. However, the LB position is one that can typically be addressed later in the draft, and the Saints will likely do so here.

The other need is running back. Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush are a talented duo, but they both suffered injuries last year and Bush is an impending free agent. The Saints could bite on Mark Ingram (Alabama) or Mikel Leshoure (Illinois) if they really like one of them, but as with LB, they’ll probably wait and grab a good option in the middle rounds.