NFL scouts voted New Orleans Saints for 2025’s Best Draft Award
Feb. 25, 2026, 4:51 p.m. CT
This is really cool. Jeff Ireland and the New Orleans Saints college scouting department accepted an award from Inside the League for landing the best class of rookies in the 2025 NFL Draft. It’s the second time the Saints have won ITL’s Best Draft Award, having done so back in 2017 — the first year it was issued. ITL gathers ballots from active NFL scouts and personnel administrators all around the league to see who made the biggest splash. And just like in 2017, this time it was New Orleans. Now that’s being recognized by your peers.
But the Saints can’t be complacent. And they can’t act like they’re one more player away from a Super Bowl, like they did in the follow-up 2018 draft by trading a king’s ransom for Marcus Davenport. Decisionmakers in New Orleans need to stay the course, trust their scouts, and continue turning over a roster that became one of the NFL’s least talented in recent years. Their 2025 draft class was a big step in the right direction. They’ve got a quarterback in Tyler Shough and a left tackle in Kelvin Banks Jr., and some building-blocks on defense in cornerback Quincy Riley and safety Jonas Sanker. We just can’t celebrate too loudly until this team starts winning games.
Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.
© 2026 saintswire.usatoday.com. All rights reserved.