The New Orleans Saints made the most of this year’s draft picks, aggressively moving up the board early on to target upgrades along the offensive line and in the linebacker corps, while laying the groundwork for long-term plans at tight end.
But it cost them a lot to make those moves, and now the Saints must lean heavily on their crop of undrafted free agents to continue plugging holes on the roster. Fortunately, the depth they’ve cultivated over years of drafts and signings should allow them to be highly selective in who they target after the picks conclude.
Here are four positions of need for the Saints to pursue on Saturday night:
Wide receiver
Let’s be real: this would have been a luxury pick if the Saints had gone receiver early. There’s no guarantee that a highly-drafted wideout would have earned snaps over Tre’Quan Smith, the nominal third man on the depth chart behind Michael Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders.
That’s no say there isn’t room for improvement. The Saints fielded a host of receivers last year that included names like Austin Carr, Krishawn Hogan, and Lil’Jordan Humphrey. Tommylee Lewis is back. The Saints must get better further down the roster, and there will be options available in undrafted free agency.
Cornerback
The Saints have a strong set of corners at the top of the depth chart, that’s not under debate. What is worrisome is that they lack quality options behind them, especially out on the boundary. It won’t be a problem if Marshon Lattimore and Janoris Jenkins each play a full season, which is probably why the Saints didn’t make a move to address it sooner.
Still, you’d like to see them bring in better options to back up Lattimore and Jenkins than kicking game specialists like Justin Hardee and Johnson Bademosi. That’s not meant to disrespect either of them, but neither player has shown they can hold up in coverage out with the rest of the defense. Adding another candidate here would be smart.
Quarterback
The Saints only have two passers under contract right now between Drew Brees and Taysom Hill. They need someone else who, if nothing else, can be trusted to hold a clipboard and wear a headset on game day. Saints coach Sean Payton has said before that the scenario is possible where Hill might be injured in a game, putting Brees’ health in even higher jeopardy.
That guy might be found in undrafted free agency. There are also many veteran options out there, like Jameis Winston and Cam Newton, who would be exponentially more expense (and also significantly more talented). It’ll be very fascinating to see how the Saints approach this, but adding a rookie would be a nice start.
Defensive end
This might feel extraneous with Zack Baun in town, but here us out. The Saints have a very good set of bookends in Cameron Jordan and Marcus Davenport, and Trey Hendrickson is a nice piece of the rotation. They can still get better there and might want to bring in more competition with Hendrickson headed for a contract year. The more competent pass rushers in the building the better, because a heavier rotation means Jordan and Davenport won’t have to be asked to play 60 or more snaps per game.
