B-
New Orleans Saints
The Saints cashed the board's mistake on Brailsford: B-.
by mumrod ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 3 steals
· 1 reaches
The phones were a trap the Saints kept walking into, shipping out surplus on nearly every deal.
The Brailsford pick alone nudges the whole weekend up a notch. They punted on quarterback, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest. Reaching for Young left real value on the table behind him.
In sum, a sensible class that nudges the roster the right way.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 27 they get a quarterback's worst nightmare, reach and all. The biggest hole, addressed.
A straight-up fair deal on Chris Bell at the 42nd pick, value and slot in agreement. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They did well to land Michael Taaffe in slot 73, just ahead of his grade. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
The board had Will Lee III higher than the Round 4 slot, and the cornerback fell to them anyway. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Kaleb Proctor in pick No. 136 is fair value, right on his grade. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Joe Royer in the 138th overall pick is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. It fills a real need, too.
Parker Brailsford in pick 150 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Ar'maj Reed-Adams at the 172nd pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Nothing to complain about; Seth McGowan went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.