{"id":865476,"date":"2026-04-13T10:30:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865476\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:30:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:30:36","slug":"new-orleans-saints-2026-nfl-draft-picks-biggest-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865476\/","title":{"rendered":"New Orleans Saints 2026 NFL draft picks, biggest needs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776076232_436_terrell_katherine.png&#038;h=80&#038;w=80&#038;scale=crop.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Katherine TerrellApr 13, 2026, 10:00 AM<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"icon-font-after icon-close-solid-after\" href=\"#\">Close<\/a>Katherine Terrell came back to ESPN to cover the New Orleans Saints in the summer of 2022. She left the company in 2019 after joining in 2016 to cover the Cincinnati Bengals. Katherine is a graduate of LSU and a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native, and she has covered the NFL since 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Multiple Authors<\/p>\n<p>METAIRIE, La. &#8212; The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/draft\/news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 NFL draft<\/a> (8 p.m. ET on ESPN, ABC, ESPN App) will start on April 23 in Pittsburgh. The <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"97d2f6c9-2f22-459c-306a-046941ccab2a\" href=\"https:\/\/africa.espn.com\/nfl\/team\/_\/name\/no\/new-orleans-saints\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Orleans Saints<\/a> are scheduled to make eight of the draft&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/africa.espn.com\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/48196141\/2026-nfl-draft-order-seven-rounds-afc-nfc-complete-257-picks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">257 picks<\/a>, beginning with the No. 8 selection of the first round on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/draft\/live\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thursday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>During the three-day event (Rounds 2-3 on April 24 and Rounds 4-7 on April 25), we will update this page with analysis on every pick.<\/p>\n<p>A full list of Saints&#8217; selections are below, in addition to positional needs.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">NFL draft coverage:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/africa.espn.com\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/46028840\/2026-nfl-mock-drafts-predictions-projections-kiper-yates-reid-miller\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Latest expert mock drafts<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/africa.espn.com\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/46573669\/2026-nfl-draft-rankings-mel-kiper-big-board-top-prospects-players-positions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kiper&#8217;s Big Board<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/africa.espn.com\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/48303738\/2026-nfl-draft-team-needs-depth-chart-holes-prospect-fits\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Team needs<\/a><br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/africa.espn.com\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/46149416\/2026-nfl-draft-rankings-top-prospects-position#top10\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Consensus rankings<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/draft\/news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/_end_rule.png\" width=\"100%\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"floatleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776076236_840_no.png&#038;h=110&#038;w=110.png\" width=\"31\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Round 1: No. 8 overall<\/p>\n<p>Round 2: No. 42<\/p>\n<p>Round 3: No. 73<\/p>\n<p>Round 4: No. 132<\/p>\n<p>Round 4: No. 136<\/p>\n<p>Round 5: No. 150<\/p>\n<p>Round 5: No. 172<\/p>\n<p>Round 6: No. 190<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/africa.espn.com\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/48303738\/2026-nfl-draft-team-needs-depth-chart-holes-prospect-fits\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Top three needs<\/a>: WR, edge, CB.<\/p>\n<p>The Saints don&#8217;t have another star wide receiver next to <a data-player-guid=\"b36899c0-cd91-5c48-6b32-ec65159c9bb3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/4361370\/chris-olave\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chris Olave<\/a>, who will be playing on his fifth-year option. The Saints have a young starting quarterback in <a data-player-guid=\"0eb2837a-e6ed-bbd7-d7d5-cbeb2cd7ab11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/4360689\/tyler-shough\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tyler Shough<\/a>, so it would make sense to surround him with more talent. They already filled multiple needs in free agency, but they did not sign a free agent receiver. Plus, they lost slot cornerback <a data-player-guid=\"830aee6b-938d-760f-4d1c-a57b59865e55\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/4369835\/alontae-taylor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alontae Taylor<\/a> to the Titans, opening a void, and could also use another pass rusher since franchise sack leader <a data-player-guid=\"cfd6d317-0d17-cb31-2766-cd6062d001e4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/13971\/cameron-jordan\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cameron Jordan<\/a> is still a free agent.<\/p>\n<p>Give a percentage chance the Saints go WR at No. 8, and are you hearing anything on who their WR1 might be?<\/p>\n<p>Around 40%. WR remains a big need, but the Saints have positioned themselves to where they could look at a few positions. Don&#8217;t rule out pass rusher or other defensive positions after New Orleans signed several offensive free agents. Wide receivers <a data-player-guid=\"d7e2315a-4185-3bb5-846b-9e6acda6fa19\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-football\/player\/_\/id\/4870795\/makai-lemon\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Makai Lemon<\/a> (USC) or <a data-player-guid=\"58f8add5-078d-3663-9249-0f48f77ce044\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-football\/player\/_\/id\/4871023\/carnell-tate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carnell Tate<\/a> (Ohio State) would make sense in Round 1. But if the Saints choose to take a WR later in the draft instead, Shough already has made his case for <a data-player-guid=\"d7162f29-5582-3f8e-9288-2f052970127e\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-football\/player\/_\/id\/4869961\/chris-bell\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chris Bell<\/a>, Shough&#8217;s former Louisville teammate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katherine TerrellApr 13, 2026, 10:00 AM CloseKatherine Terrell came back to ESPN to cover the New Orleans Saints&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865477,"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-865476","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\/116396940550466593","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865476","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=865476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}