By Ross Jackson<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s NFL Draft is expected to be one with a strong mid-round class that begins to drop off part way through Day 3. For a team like the New Orleans Saints<\/a>, which holds four combined fourth and fifth-round selections, that means finding a way to invest as soon as possible will be important.<\/p>\n The Saints\u2019 history of late-round success has taken a bit of a hit in recent years, though 2025\u2019s draft class has a chance to correct the path, but the team\u2019s fourth-round success is promising. That success could continue in 2026 as the Saints weigh trading up or staying put.<\/p>\n New Orleans has made just 18 selections in the first round since general manager Mickey Loomis<\/a> assumed his role. His first draft was the 2003 draft. Since then, the team\u2019s history of draft mid-round picks (Rounds 3-5) is as follows:<\/p>\n Third: 22 selections<\/p>\n Fourth: 18 selections<\/p>\n Fifth: 22 selections<\/p>\n Of the 18 fourth-round selections, linemen Jahri Evans<\/a> and Jermon Bushrod<\/a> received the most accolades but the team also landed solid contributors in C.J. Gardner-Johnson<\/a> and defensive tackle David Onyemata<\/a> (while they were on the roster, at least).<\/p>\n The team has recently seen success with 2025 draft picks linebacker Danny Stutsman<\/a> and cornerback Quincy Riley<\/a>, both of whom are expected to step into larger roles this year. RIley had already become a starter early in the 2025 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n There were some pitfalls in the round as well, of course. Tackle Rick Leonard will be a long-time stain on the team\u2019s drafting record. But sensible swings at players with traits to like, such as wide receiver Nick Toon<\/a> and offensive lineman Nick Saldiveri<\/a> at least show some calculated risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two quarterbacks, Ian Book<\/a> and Jake Haener<\/a>, were also selected. Neither were expected to become starters in the league, but also didn\u2019t hang around very long as backups.<\/p>\n With a pair of fourth-round picks available in this year\u2019s draft (Nos. 132 and 136) and two fifth-round selections (Nos. 150 and 172), the Saints could look to continue their rebound in the round with multiple swings.<\/p>\n Packaging both fifth-round picks or adding in their lone sixth (No. 190 overall) could get them another shot in the fourth as well. Taking advantage of rounds 1-4 in this year\u2019s draft may be necessary, and the Saints have the fodder available to take advantage of that opportunity.<\/p>\n While it may mean fewer players to potentially hit, raising the floor of the class by taking more players within the top-150 allows the team to make more high-percentage shots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ross Jackson This year\u2019s NFL Draft is expected to be one with a strong mid-round class that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[7,896,55,2572,2571,6,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-862389","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-neworleans","12":"tag-neworleanssaints","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-saints"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116375432946308656","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862389","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=862389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}