B-
New Orleans Saints
The steal of the weekend belongs to the Saints and Hunter: B-.
by jlwalker43 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 4 steals
· 2 reaches
Every so often the board makes a mistake, and the Saints were there to profit. Lee Hunter, the No. 48 name on the board, should have been long gone before slot 73. A sturdy weekend that grades out a B-.
If Overton pans out, nobody remembers the price. If not, this is the pick they hear about. They will regret leaving running back for another day if the season turns on it.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the running back spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 8th overall pick they get a ballhawk on the back end at fair value. Need was not the driver here.
LT Overton in slot 42 is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The board fumbled Lee Hunter all the way to the 73rd pick, and they scooped it up. The roster fit checks out.
A tidy bit of business in the Round 4 slot, where Michael Trigg graded well above the range. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Will Lee III at No. 136. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A clean, defensible pick in pick 150 with a little surplus value in Malik Benson. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Taylen Green at pick No. 172 jumps the queue by a touch more than is comfortable. A need, and now a little less of one.
Matt Gulbin slipping to Round 6, Pick 9 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.