Saints select Houston DE Payton Turner at No. 28 overall

After many reports of their efforts to trade up in the first round Thursday, the Saints stayed put at No. 28 overall.

The pick surprised many.

New Orleans selected University of Houston defensive end Payton Turner.

With the 28th pick in the 2021 #NFLDraft, the Saints select: DE Payton Turner from Houston! #SaintsDraft |@CoxComm pic.twitter.com/um7bV79e5x

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) April 30, 2021

Payton was considered a late riser in the draft due to his great length and outside/inside flexibility at 6-foot-5, 270-pounds.

NFL.com — Three-year starter who has shown a continued level of positional growth that requires the attention of NFL evaluators. Turner is a big, long 4-3 defense end with natural play strength and a surprising level of bend and agility for his size. His technique and footwork are a little spotty, though. He plays with a narrow base and tall pad level, which will always be something he has to work around. He’s growing into his frame and his talent. The tape shows a player who is beginning to understand his own strength and athletic potential. His pass rush plan is limited, but he has a go-to move that opens the door to quarterbacks. Once he gets an advantage, he is an absolute menace to recover against for blockers. His size and play traits will have both odd- and even-front defenses interested in him as a talented three-down starter who is still on the way up.

The Athletic — SUMMARY: A three-year starter at Houston, Turner lined up at the Bandit edge rusher position (field side) in defensive coordinator Doug Belk’s scheme, standing up and rushing with his hand on the ground. He lined up at 4i defensive end (inside the offensive tackle) his first two seasons under the previous coaching staff before moving back outside to his more natural edge rusher role in 2019, totaling 18.5 tackles for loss and 9.0 sacks over 17 games the last two years. Turner is among the best effort players in this draft class, using his long strides and speed to chase down ball carriers. He is a high-cut rusher and battles balance issues vs. leveraged power, but he does a great job keeping his hands and feet in lock step to attack and work off blocks. Overall, Turner needs to cultivate his pass rush sequence, but he has outstanding length, foot quickness and competitive energy. He projects as an eventual NFL starter with inside/outside versatility.
GRADE: 2nd-3rd Round (No. 60 overall)

Pro Football Focus –PFF Big Board rank: 57
Turner has long been considered a Day 2 edge prospect, but a few things are working in his favor when it comes to potentially rising up boards.

The first is that there seems to be very little consensus about who the best prospects are in this crowded edge defender class. Rashad Weaver is listed 10th at the position on one ranking and second on another. Prospects such as Jaelan Phillips, Kwity Paye, Azeez Ojulari, Jayson Oweh and Gregory Rousseau are all viewed as top edge defenders in the class, depending on where you look. There’s a good chance that the boards in the NFL war rooms will be similarly varied.

Listed at 6-foot-6 and 268 pounds with 35-inch arms, Turner has the length and versatility to play both outside and inside. He’s also a plus athlete with good bend, as the pro-day results below indicate.

Payton Turner is a DE prospect in the 2021 draft class. He scored a 9.68 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 44 out of 1361 DE from 1987 to 2021.

Houston released updated times, thankfully. Still a great score for Payton Turner, but believable.https://t.co/5t9yiO5sOQ #RAS pic.twitter.com/Hwz7TtggX9

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 10, 2021

His competition level and limited snaps in 2020 (he played just over four games) will likely count against him, but Turner did take a step forward last year, earning a career-high 90.0 pass-rushing grade in the process. It’s not exactly a stretch to see a team talking themselves into a player with his skill set early.

PFF specifically named the Saints as a team that may use their first rounder on the Houston native.

Payton will not be expected to start at his natural position on the edge as a rookie since Cam Jordan and Marcus Davenport return in 2021. The latter just had the fifth-year option picked up on his rookie contract for 2022.

However, pass rush is a valued commodity in the NFL, and the Saints must replace the production of departed free agent Trey Hendrickson.

New Orleans Saints 2021 NFL Draft Round One Notes

• With the 28th pick overall in the first round, New Orleans selected University of Houston DE Payton Turner.
• This marks the second selection that the Saints have made with the 28th overall pick, previously selecting RB Mark Ingram in 2011.
• Turner is the sixth player selected by New Orleans out of the University of Houston, the first since G Mike Gisler in 1992 (11th round, 303rd overall).
• Turner’s, selection marks the second time that New Orleans has picked a player out of the American Athletic Conference since the league’s establishment in 2014, the first being WR Tre’Quan Smith (third round, 91st overall, 2018).
• Turner is the 11th defensive end selected in the first round by New Orleans, as he joins fellow first round ends Marcus Davenport (2018) and Cameron Jordan (2011) on the roster, as well as Kevin Hardy (1968), Joe Campbell (1977), Shawn Knight (1987), Wayne Martin (1989), Renaldo Turnbull (1990), Joe Johnson (1994), Charles Grant (2002) and Will Smith (2004) The 11 defensive ends are the most selected position wise in the first round in club history by the Saints.
• Turner is the 15th first round draft pick to be selected out of the University of Houston, the last being Buffalo Bills DT Ed Oliver in 2019.
• The 6-6, 270-pound Turner played in 39 career games with 27 starts at Houston and posted career totals of 115 tackles (68 solo), 25 tackles for loss, ten sacks, one interception, one forced fumble and ten passes defensed.
• As a senior in 2020, Turner played in five games with four starts and recorded 25 tackles (17 solo), 10.5 stops for loss, five sacks for a loss of 33 yards and one forced fumble, opening the season with a monster performance in the season opener against Tulane on October 8, posting 4.5 stops for loss and two sacks in a 49-31 Cougars victory. Turner was American Athletic All-Conference second-team.
• In 2019, Turner started the 12 games he played in and posted 34 tackles (20 solo), eight stops for loss, four sacks and four passes defensed.
• In 2018, the Houston native started all 11 games he played in and posted a career-high 42 tackles (career-high 21 solo), 4.5 stops for loss and four passes defensed.
• New Orleans has seven picks remaining in the 2021 NFL Draft, with three picks scheduled for tomorrow, one second rounder (60th overall) and two third round compensatory picks (98th and 105th overall).