The 2021 NFL draft is finally behind us, so of course draft experts and college football enthusiasts are already turning their attentions towards 2022. Mock drafts are flying around fast and furious, and there’s little consensus on what the New Orleans Saints will do. But that’s often the case given their aggressive approach to the draft and unconventional preferences.
In surveying the ten most recent 2022 NFL mock drafts, I found that the Saints have been connected to a pair of college quarterbacks and a crowd of receivers, but few draft analysts are expecting the Saints to go get a cornerback — which Sean Payton identified as the team’s most important need going into the 2021 draft.
Of course there are many different opinions this early in the process. We don’t know which underclassmen will declare and leave early, we don’t know where the Saints will be picking or what they’ll need; it’s all over the place. Our colleague at Draft Wire, Luke Easterling, has the Saints choosing Ohio State receiver Chris Olave, who was also tabbed for New Orleans by other analysts (more on him shortly) and linked to the Saints in these way-too-soon mock drafts last offseason. Here are the prospects to keep in mind once college football returns in the fall. Let’s dig in:
