New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton isn’t one to sit idly by while his competition gets better. Payton has traded up in every draft he’s been a part of in New Orleans except for his first, all the way back in 2006. He trusts his scouts to turn in comprehensive reports on college prospects so that his coaches can best project how those players might fit their scheme, and then he gets to work wheeling and dealing draft picks to move with confidence.
The 2020 NFL Draft should go no differently. If anything, the Saints might be more aggressive than usual in the first round. Multiple reports from around the league’s orbit place the Saints among a crowd of teams interested in jumping up and out of the first round’s final selections, targeting higher-graded prospects available earlier on.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport noted the Saints “have made some noise” about trading up the board on Thursday night, and that New Orleans is typically among the more-frequent movers in the draft. That was echoed by Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports, who listed the Saints in a group of teams coveting quick-footed options in this year’s dynamic wide receiver class.
However, both Rapoport and Robinson were late to this party: ESPN’s Dianna Russini reported earlier Thursday that the Saints had contacted every team slotted ahead of them in the first round, working on contingencies should a highly-valued prospect slip down the board.
But Russini also said that the Saints could be content to remain at No. 24, trusting their evaluations of prospects at cornerback and all across the offensive line — as well as running back, specifically noting Wisconsin Badgers running back Jonathan Taylor as someone ranked high on their board.
It’s too soon to know whether any of these rumors end up bearing fruit, but it is clear that the Saints are investigating all of their options. They aren’t about to be caught flat-footed in maybe the most important moment of their offseason.
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