With just three short weeks remaining until the Las Vegas Raiders are on the clock with the first-overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, teams are beginning to wrap up their prospect meetings, cramming as much film time as they can, and narrowing down big boards to select the next members of their organizations. The same is true for the New Orleans Saints. It is seemingly more possible that the team will have its pick of the bunch of remaining top athletes as they hold the eighth-overall pick in the upcoming draft. Although there are several areas of need, they can only fill those gaps one player at a time.<\/p>\n
One of the more glaring needs in New Orleans is offensive firepower to surround starting quarterback Tyler Shough with, more specifically, at the wide receiver position. Luckily for the Saints, there is a bevy of top-end, talented pass catchers available throughout this year\u2019s class, most of whom should be available when New Orleans goes on the clock.<\/p>\n
Many expect Ohio State\u2019s Carnell Tate to be the first WR taken off the board, but when that first wideout will be taken is the big looming question. If Tate were taken early, New Orleans would likely have their choice of USC\u2019s Makai Lemon or Arizona State\u2019s Jordyn Tyson. Should Mickey Loomis and Kellen Moore decide to address another position of need in the first round, quality options like Alabama\u2019s Germie Bernard or Louisville\u2019s Chris Bell could be available in the second or third rounds. Bell was a college teammate of Tyler Shough\u2019s, and the QB has been very vocal about playing again with his former WR.<\/p>\n
While still necessary to obtain youth at the position, if New Orleans is unable to come to terms with veteran edge rusher Cam Jordan, the Saints will need to focus their attention on drafting the next great pass rusher to wear the black and gold. Perhaps the top option available in this year\u2019s draft, Rueben Bain Jr., could be just what the doctor ordered in the 2026 edition of Brandon Staley\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n
Although New Orleans may love the chance to draft OSU\u2019s Arvell Reese or Texas Tech\u2019s David Bailey, I would not expect either to be there when the Saints pick, barring any trade up. If Bain is not the best player available at number eight, I would watch for Missouri\u2019s Zion Young or Auburn\u2019s Keldric Faulk to be targeted in the later portion of the first round. Another Miami Hurricane, Akheem Mesidor, could also potentially be in play for New Orleans.<\/p>\n
If New Orleans decides that it\u2019s comfortable with the current offensive groupings, it is certainly possible that the Saints lean heavily towards the defensive side of the ball. With the departure of cornerback Alontae Taylor in free agency, filling the defensive back room could be of interest to the Saints.<\/p>\n
Tennessee\u2019s Jermod McCoy and LSU\u2019s Mansoor Delane could go interchangeably as CB1 and CB2 in this year\u2019s class. While it\u2019s unlikely that New Orleans would reach for this position, it\u2019s an area of need to keep an eye on if the staff and coaches find a player they absolutely fall in love with.<\/p>\n
What do you think New Orleans should do with their first pick of the draft? What are some names you hope to see wearing the black and gold next season? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With just three short weeks remaining until the Las Vegas Raiders are on the clock with the first-overall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[7,896,55,65685,402,401,2572,2571,6,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-849536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-orleans","10":"tag-new-orleans-saints","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints-analysis","12":"tag-new-orleans-saints-draft","13":"tag-new-orleans-saints-news","14":"tag-neworleans","15":"tag-neworleanssaints","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-saints"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116335950211576453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}