2011 NFL Draft Results: New Orleans Saints 1st Round Analysis

Are you kidding me?! How often do you get a top-five talent when picking 24th overall? It doesn't happen. 

But such was the case Thursday night, as teams inexplicably gambled on a group of quarterbacks most analysts agreed weren't any good. 

The result for the Saints was having the option to pick between two defensive ends who should have, in my opinion, been top-five picks; Cameron Jordan (the actual pick) or Da'Quan Bowers. Bowers was likely eliminated due to a poor medical evaluation. 

That left Jordan as the obvious pick for the Saints, who clearly knew their greatest need was a defensive end. Alex Brown isn't getting any younger, and Will Smith will likely miss the first four games of next season—finally serving the StarCaps suspension originally handed down in 2008. 

But the selection of Jordan was clearly made because defensive end was deemed the most important position for the team to address. That was after many had claimed for weeks that running back, specifically Mark Ingram, would be the pick. 

So it was little surprise that the Saints would select Ingram. How they did it provided much more of a surprise, as they traded their second round pick in this draft and next year's first round pick to move up and get him. 

NFL Network was so excited about the pick; I thought Mike Mayock and Marshall Faulk were going to explode. 

Though I spent many hours thinking, contemplating, and even writing about why the Saints should not select Mark Ingram in this draft, it was under the assumption that he would be the Saints' lone first round pick. 

But, and I even said this in previous articles, I love the player and think he'll be a good pro. I'm just so happy he wasn't the Saints' only first round selection. Because he wasn't, I can give the Saints an A+ for this draft. 

Anytime, you can get two players who are winners, hard workers, and guys that make your football team better, you do it. The first round pick is tough to give up, but the personnel people obviously thought highly enough of Ingram to justify it. 

Time will tell if the move was worth it, but certainly at the end of the first round, it's hard to say the Saints didn't win this draft. 

How can any Saints fan be upset about that? Not even a Mark Ingram hater such as myself.