This year’s four-man New Orleans Saints draft class makes up in quality what it might lack in quantity. First-round draft pick Cesar Ruiz is expected to start right away (whether at center or guard), while third-round selections Zack Baun and Adam Trautman should each crack the rotation at linebacker and tight end, respectively. Seventh-round flyer Tommy Stevens is gearing up to do his best Taysom Hill impression, a role he pioneered at Penn State with future Saints assistant coach Joe Brady.
And that’s a fine haul (if an unspectacular one) for a team expected to contend for Super Bowl LV. Many draft experts agree, having graded the Saints with an average GPA of 2.79 for their work in the 2020 NFL Draft. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. was lukewarm, though, grading the Saints with a ‘C+’ and dinging them for making just four picks. The analysts at Pro Football Focus were a little more optimistic, offering a ‘B.’
But how does that compare to the rest of the NFL landscape?
The chart embedded below shows how every team was graded by a panel of draft experts from around the NFL’s orbit, and the Saints don’t rank that highly. In fact, New Orleans ranks 10th-worst for what they managed to add in this year’s draft. But somehow, we don’t expect that to hurt their chances of lifting up another Lombardi Trophy next February.
