Three days, three different approaches for Saints nets a promising future

The NFL Draft is spread over three days.

It allows the league to market its product in massive fashion and to capture the marketplace of sports, dominating the national sports conversation, even in the midst of the NBA and NHL playoffs, along with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer all taking place at the same time.

The three-day process allows the 32 NFL franchises to think and re-think their approaches and processes to build winners.

The elite teams in the league include the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals.

Those on the precipice include the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, and, yes, even the Dallas Cowboys.

The Minnesota Vikings won 12 games a year ago while experiencing great fortune.

Those on the rise include the Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers and New York Giants.

There are a group of teams that concluded last season mired in mediocrity.

That included the New Orleans Saints.

Regardless of injuries and potential, the Saints were a poor 7-10 in a poor division while scoring just 330 points, 21st in the league. New Orleans was just 4-5 at home.

The good news is that several of the injured players may be, hopefully will be healthier in 2023.

The bad news is the dark cloud hanging over Alvin Kamara, who is likely to miss several games this season. Bringing in Jamaal Williams could possibly help mitigate the absence of Kamara, at least for the most part.

The sunshine of hope lies with the addition of Derek Carr at quarterback, an upgrade at the most important position on the team. The question remains as to how big of an upgrade it will prove to be.

The return of possible return of Michael Thomas is another reason for optimism.

The other reasons for believing 2023 will be better are clear.

The NFC South is, at least on paper, a poor division, there for the taking.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have established the Saints as the favorite to win the division.

Dennis Allen enters his second season with more of a comfort level of being settled in his position. It is now his team, not Sean Payton’s, and he now has more of his “own guys” on his coaching staff.

Then, there is the eternal optimism flowing from the three-day draft process.

The Saints had clear needs which they addressed, including a defensive tackle, a defensive end, a running back and offensive line depth.

Of course, very few teams can address every need or position requiring more depth or quality.

It would have been nice to draft a tight end or a linebacker.

With the trade of Adam Trautman, the Saints are very thin at the former and with the age of Demario Davis and the number of missed games of Pete Werner, the latter is a bit of a concern.

New Orleans took three different approaches in the three-day process.

With Bryan Bresee, the Saints went for potential over performance. Those approaches typically result in a real hit or a real miss, with little in between.

With the second day haul, the franchise went for performance over potential. Those approaches typically result in a solid level of contribution, with some becoming stars while others are simply medium parts to the puzzle.

On day three, the Saints reverted to their consistent ways of the Mickey Loomis regime, returning to trading up to target specific players.

The process of going for quality over quantity is one which Loomis, Jeff Ireland, Payton and now Allen embrace wholeheartedly. It is an approach which makes sense, particularly for a championship contender, for a team with a proven, deep roster.

As suggested, the New Orleans Saints lie somewhere in the middle, sandwiched between the league’s elite franchises and the bottom-feeders.

Loomis acted quickly to open the final day of the draft by trading up with the Chicago Bears to make the first pick of the day, utilizing that selection to pick offensive lineman Nick Saldiveri of Old Dominion.

Saldiveri fits the profile of the organization perfectly.

The Saints firmly believe in building inside-out, focusing its drafts on offensive and defensive linemen.

The Saints also believe in versatile players up front.

Andrus Peat can play guard or tackle and has done both.

Center Erik McCoy could play guard, if needed.

Guard Cesar Ruiz can play center, when needed.

Tackle James Hurst can swing to guard, as he did in the final game of the season last year.

Saldiveri played tackle at Old Dominion but could project and likely projects at guard for the Saints. New Orleans clearly had Saldiveri ranked higher than a fourth-round pick and likely made a value pick.

Saldiveri could play guard and center would not even be out of the question.

Saldiveri was a three-year starter for the Monarchs who is smart, agile, and would have the ability to be a solid pulling guard, along with being effective in the screen game with his agility. Saldiveri has been dependable and durable. He missed just one game in 2019, starting 11 at right tackle. The 2020 season was a COVID year before Saldiveri started all 13 games at right tackle and saw a little action at right guard. Last season, Saldiveri started 10 games at right tackle and one at right guard and was chosen to play in the Senior Bowl.

Saldiveri is huge at 6-6, 318. With Trevor Penning, Peat, Ryan Ramczyk, Ruiz and McCoy, the Saints have a huge, potentially very physical front which could tilt the team toward more of a physical run game approach.

Then, New Orleans traded up with Jacksonville to draft a potential future quarterback in Jake Haener in the fourth round.

Of course, there are no guarantees.

Every attempt to draft a future quarterback have failed over the last two decades since Loomis took over as general manager in 2002.

Do the names J.T. O’ Sullivan, Adrian McPherson, Sean Canfield, Garrett Grayson, Tommy Stevens and Ian Book ring a bell?

Haener is an interesting case study.

He has an existing relationship with Carr as both are products of Fresno State. Carr has already embraced the pick and has publicly stated that he looks forward to mentoring Haener.

Like Book, Haener does not have the prototypical NFL quarterback size (6-0).

Haener missed four games with an ankle injury in 2022.

Haener is an older (24), experienced player who understands the game and has the ability read defenses. Watching highlights of him, Haenere lacks size and a big arm but has displayed good timing as a rhythm passer. Mobility is not part of his repertoire. His best season rushing was 18 yards in 2020.

A desirable trait is his touchdown to interception rate of 68 scores to just 18 picks in his last four seasons at the college level.

Haener started his college career at Washington before transferring to Fresno State, where he played three seasons. He gives the Saints a developmental quarterback behind Carr and Jameis Winston.

In the fifth round, New Orleans went with safety Jordan Howden.

Howden started 13 games for the Gophers last season and had a career-best 58 tackles.

Howden (6-0, 206) has solid size for a safety and he is an experienced player, having played in 58 college games with 49 starts.

Howden is, based on reviews and tape, a solid tackler, with 240 stops in his college career. Howden recorded four interceptions and has leadership skills, having served as a team captain.

Howden has a good football family history. His father (Ramsed Howden) played at Grambling while a cousin, Saladin Martin, spent time in the NFL and in the USFL.

Howden runs well for a safety (4.49). He certainly has a chance to stick as a special teams player initially.

The Saints made it three trades on the final day, trading up to get Wake Forest wide receiver A.T. Perry, obtaining the pick in a trade with Denver for Trautman. Evidently, Payton still sees potential in Trautman, whom he was instrumental in drafting in New Orleans.

Perry could be a candidate to become the bigger, in-traffic, contested-catch receiver Allen is seeking to compliment Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed.

Perry (6-3 ½, 198) fits the bill as a very productive player.

Last season, Perry snared 86 passes for 1,096 yards and 10 touchdowns. Perry is athletic for his size.

Based on value, Perry should have gone higher in the draft. He may turn out to be the best value pick of all for the Saints.

Perry did have a few drops (17 in last two seasons, per Pro Football Focus) of concern for the Demon Deacons but the potential is clear. He is tough enough to play through contact and fast enough to play against safeties or lesser corners.

Like Haener, Perry and Saldiveri, Perry is a very experienced player, having spent four seasons at Wake Forest, playing in 36 games. Perry started every game in his final two seasons with the Demon Deacons.

While his final season was very good, his 2021 season may have been even better with 71 catches for 1,283 yards and 15 touchdowns, averaging 18.2 yards per catch.

The question remains whether Perry is the next Marques Colston, whom all big receivers will inevitably be compared to.

Perry does not have to be Colston. He simply needs to be productive and he has a real chance to make the roster.

Drafts are measured in the future and they are measured by the metric of getting at least two starters in the process.

If you accomplish that, you have had a solid draft.

If you come up with three starters, you have a good, perhaps very good draft.

If you get beyond three starters or significant contributors, you have hit the jackpot.

The Saints are counting on Bresee to be a rotation player immediately. Ditto for Foskey, who mitigates the obvious disappointment in Payton Turner.

Miller will get a chance to play quickly with Kamara’s expected absence.

Saldiveri will have a chance to develop, with the experience on hand up front. Ditto for Howden.

Perry will get a long look at having a shot to be a contributor early on.

As always, everyone has an opinion and it is all about projections. Only time will tell how this process worked out for New Orleans.

At first glance and after studying it for two days, place me in the corner of being optimistic that the Saints did a good job, as they did last year with Olave and Alonte Taylor and, likely with Penning.

The three different approaches taken in three days were different, diverse and directional and were dictated by circumstances. The Saints went with daring, dependable and durable. Hopefully, the end result will be delightful, dynamic, even dominant for all involved and for fans in years to come.