New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis shared his thoughts on his team’s offseason during a press conference ahead of the 2019 NFL Draft, briefly commenting on the status of last year’s first round draft pick, Marcus Davenport.
“I think he’s made progress and he had a couple health things that slowed him down a little bit,” Loomis mused, referencing a turf toe injury Davenport suffered that required surgery earlier this year, “but we like Marcus and we’re looking for big things from him.”
That lines up with the evaluation from Saints head coach Sean Payton, who reflected on Davenport’s rookie year back at NFL owners meetings in Phoenix: “When he played last year, we feel like we saw some real good traits, to where we feel like this guy is gonna be a dominant player for us. He played exceptionally well at Minnesota and exceptionally well in two or three other games for us. His toe slowed him down.”
This consensus seems to be shared by the other member of New Orleans’ braintrust; college scouting director and assistant general manager Jeff Ireland, whose evaluation helped convinced the Saints to trade up for Davenport in the first place.
“Injury always affects development,” Ireland noted back at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “So when a guy is dinged and injured, and he’s playing through it, he’s tough as heck, that slows development. But certainly we’ve got a plan for (Davenport). He’s gonna get healthy, that’s No. 1. Then there’s gonna be a little bit of starting back from scratch. But he’s a fast learner, and he’s a tremendous athlete, so his development should be pretty quick, I hope.”
Davenport will have every opportunity to succeed. There’s no one on the roster who can challenge him to start opposite 2017 All-Pro pass rusher Cameron Jordan, and he already has a year of NFL experience under his belt. A full offseason in the Saints’ training and conditioning program should work wonders for the 6-foot-7, 270-pounder. It’s clear that the Saints anticipate a big jump from him in 2019.
