C
New Orleans Saints
A weekend that raised as many questions as it answered. The Saints get a C.
by Reheheheheh ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 2 steals
· 4 reaches
If confidence were a draft strategy, the Saints would have aced it. Dominic Zvada at the 42nd overall pick is 265 spots clear of where he belonged.
Johnson falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch. The Zvada pick reads as want over need, and the roster will feel it at cornerback, offensive lineman and other spots. For all the activity, cornerback went untouched, which is hard to explain.
They came away with juice, if not much beef up front.
It nets out as a middle-of-the-pack haul that neither helps nor hurts much.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 8 they get a true top target at fair value. The biggest hole, addressed.
A curious use of the 42nd overall pick. Cornerback, offensive lineman and other spots needed the pick; a specialist in Dominic Zvada did not.
Value said wait; Jimmy Rolder in the Round 3 slot says they were not listening. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
Darrell Jackson Jr. at pick No. 132 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They will replay Emmett Johnson at Round 4, Pick 36 for years; that is how good the value is. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Harrison Wallace III. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
George Gumbs Jr. in slot 172 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
J'Mari Taylor in the 190th overall pick is fair value, right on his grade. A need, and now a little less of one.