I present to you the New Orleans Saints’ 2012 draft class below, with their twitter pages linked to their names:
3. Akiem Hicks, DE/DT, Regina (Canada)
7. Marcel Jones, T, Nebraska (no twitter account known)
So how would I grade this year’s class?
Well, this draft was damned from the start when you consider the 1st rounder was gone in an effort to land Mark Ingram last year, and the fact that the 2nd rounder was revoked due to bounty gate. I don’t love that the Saints went with such a project in Hicks in the 3rd round when he likely would have been available around the 5th and 6th round. I get that they loved his promise, but I just think that’s real high to draft a guy that may not be able to contribute right away. Hicks is a huge question mark at best, and I’m not enamored with the gamble when the Saints were already behind the 8 ball to begin with. I do love the Nick Toon and Marcel Jones picks especially, both players I expect to make the roster. Jones is great value in the 7th round, and he’s a well rounded polished player. Toon has NFL lineage already and he reminds me of a hybrid between Colston and Arrington. I’m not sure how confident I am in the White/Tiller picks. Overall, I give the Saints a D in this draft. That’s pessimistic, I know, but hopefully they’ll prove me wrong. Last year, for what it’s worth, I gave the Saints an A. I do think the Saints passed on a lot of quality players and could have made it out of this draft in better shape than they did, but oh well. One thing to note from this draft that I found interesting is the Saints went offense with 3 of the 5 picks despite being mostly set on that side. They also took two o-lineman, so clearly they felt depth there was a huge need.
Expect the Saints to target Boise St. QB Kellen Moore in free agency, I know for a fact Sean Payton loves him.
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