F
New Orleans Saints
The board had answers; the Saints had Payne. Grade: F.
by vvv ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 2 steals
· 6 reaches
The Saints looked at the value chart, folded it up, and took VJ Payne at No. 136 regardless, 60 picks early. A F, plain and simple.
Overpaying at the table undid a lot of the good work elsewhere. A whole weekend of picks and quarterback is somehow still a want. Landing Fields that late papers over a lot of smaller sins.
It is a win-now wager, and the future is the stake.
In the end, a class that has to defy its grades just to matter.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 8th overall pick they get a premier pass rusher, reach and all. The biggest hole, addressed.
In the 11th pick they get a double-digit-sack hope, though they paid up to get him. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
A straight-up fair deal on D'Angelo Ponds at pick No. 42, value and slot in agreement. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A premium they did not need to pay, Deion Burks a notch or two before his time. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A tidy bit of business in the Round 3 slot, where Malachi Fields graded well above the range. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Harold Perkins Jr. in No. 132 is fair value, right on his grade. A minor need, but a need all the same.
A wild overpay on VJ Payne in the 136th overall pick, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Ephesians Prysock well ahead of where he belonged. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They went early on Anez Cooper in pick No. 172, and the value did not follow. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
They read the board right and Keagen Trost was the payoff at No. 190. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.