The Saints will make the eighth pick in Thursday night’s first round of the NFL Draft, and Mickey Loomis said Wednesday he expects New Orleans to get a player who can matter. The Saints are coming off a 6-11 season, but Loomis said the club is excited about the chance to land a really good player at No. 8.
“I know we’re going to get a really good player at pick 8,” Loomis said at a pre-draft news conference at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center. “A guy that can have an impact on your team.”
That matters now because the Saints enter the draft with a top-10 selection after a season that ended better than it started. They won four of their last five games, including all four of their December games, and they also could add as many as eight picks overall, with three selections in the first 73. That gives New Orleans room not just to draft high, but to keep reshaping the roster around second-year quarterback Tyler Shough.
Loomis did not sound locked into any one path, even as several mock drafts have tied the Saints to Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. Bain’s 30 7/8-inch arm length is below average for his position, but Loomis said performance outweighs measurements even if the numbers remain part of the evaluation. He also said the Saints are not looking for outliers and are probably a little more risk averse when they make high picks.
“I think how the guy plays always overrides everything. Let’s start with that,” Loomis said. “We’re not looking for outliers.”
For New Orleans, the choice at No. 8 is likely to reflect a roster that is better than its record but still far from complete. Loomis said the team wants as many questions answered as possible when it picks in the top 10 or top 12, and he contrasted this team with the Drew Brees era, when the Saints often felt one player away. This version does not.
“We’re not one player away,” Loomis said.
The draft is deep at receiver, Loomis said, which could matter for Shough’s development and for an offense that already has some production in place. Chris Olave had 100 catches for 1,163 yards and nine touchdowns last season, Juwan Johnson added 77 catches for 899 yards and three touchdowns, and Devaughn Vele finished with 25 catches for 293 yards and two touchdowns.
That leaves the Saints with a straightforward but demanding task on Thursday: use No. 8 on a player who can help now, while still building enough depth to support a young quarterback and a roster that is still being pieced together. Loomis sounded confident the first step will be the right one.
