All right. Hello everyone. And good afternoon, it is draft day. 32 teams in
the NFL will think that they have landed *** boatload of future Hall of
Famers by the end of tonight in the first round and certainly by the end of
the draft on Saturday, I'm Fletcher Mackel. He Sharif is Shaq. We're going
to spend the next 15 or 20 minutes on our live stream here. Thanks for
joining us on the W W D U digital platforms, Twitter, um Facebook, our
website. Um and we're going to go through *** bunch of things here
talking about what we think the Saints could do. Sharif. Do you want to start?
I think there's one thing we can bank on. Absolutely positively at some point
over the next three days, the Saints are going to do what
they're not gonna draft eight players. So that means they're definitely gonna
probably trade up at some point. I mean, since 2008, Mickey Loomis has made 20
draft day trades since he became the G M in 2002. He has traded up in the
first round nine different times. So odds on favorite tells me they're gonna
trade up at some point whether it be tonight or tomorrow or even in day
three, they're gonna make *** trade because they're not going to use all
eight selections. Yeah, you're right. The draft is seven rounds long. The
Saints have *** pick 29 overall that they got from the Denver Broncos for
Sean Payton going to coach that team because the Saints traded this year's
number one to Philly. So Philly has two picks this year. The Saints had two
last year. The Saints got the pick from Denver. They also have *** pick in the
second round. Number 40 in the third round. 71 3 in the top 75 five is
serious value. Um When you're building *** team, you got to hit on those picks
and, and look Jeff Ireland, the assistant general manager has done ***
great job in the 2nd and 3rd round. I mean, you think of Alvin Kamara was ***
third rounder. Eric mccoy was *** second rounder. Pete Warner was ***
second rounder. Marcus Williams was *** second rounder. I mean, they Trey Trey
Hendrickson was the third rounder Thomas. I mean, they've been awesome at
drafting right in the 2nd and 3rd round. So, and look the Saints, the last two
years have missed the playoffs. I think those three picks are high value picks
that they need to hit on this year. They don't need to trade those picks at
all. They need those three picks. The first three picks have to hit, they
have to keep them and they have to continue to, they have to continue to
get value picks. They have to continue to hit on these picks whether it be ***
defensive lineman, defensive tackle, defensive end, running back, tight end,
they need to make sure that they keep those three picks because those have
very high value, especially in day two. I think this draft is super deep
fletcher in quite *** few positions. I'm not so sure about round one. Round
one just feels like it's all over the place. So much uncertainty. So I think
it's when it comes to day two and day three where the depth can be built on
this team. Yes, I would agree with you and look, this is also *** special day
or *** special week for hundreds of college football players. I mean,
dreams are going to come true when they hear Commissioner Roger Goodell call
their name. Some are going to walk out on the podium and give him the bear hug.
Others are going to get the call from coaches and general managers. We have
Mickey Loomis the same general manager who spoke to the media on Wednesday
talking about the emotions. I thought that was *** really human moment that
was really special that Mickey gave us *** peek behind the curtain in the war
room. He talked about that and he also talked about maybe the favorite phone
call that he'd ever made. It came in 2011 when the Saints selected Cam
Jordan, who's one of the greatest players ever now in franchise history
out of Cal Berkeley with the first pick. Let's listen to uh Mickey Loomis right
now.
Well, Cam Jordan stands out because he was so, you know, talkative and all
over the place, he had this high pitched voice and I looked at John,
what did we just do?
So, but most, most of the time there's just so much emotion from and you can
hear in the background, you can hear the families, you know, going crazy and
the players are crying half the time and I get all teared up, you know. Um
yeah, it's, it's, it's one of the best parts of the job is that call.
Yeah, I mean, I thought that was *** great moment. You were at that press
conference yesterday. I thought that was pretty, pretty great and I think
he's pretty spot on, on Cam. Yeah, he's been involved in the draft since 1984.
So almost 40 years and he's recalled, like tried to recall some of his
favorite phone calls, but that's the one that just comes to his memory.
First, of course, it's Cam Jordan, the guy who's *** fan, favorite, great
personality, even even Cam tweeted the video. Well, the quote tweeted the
video from uh from that press conference saying, hey, maybe we should
draft more high pitched defensive ends from CAL on our football team. And, you
know, it was *** good moment. I do like, I do like when Mickey Loomis steps away
from, you know, being the guy who's very secretive, I like that. That was
very, very human of him yesterday to talk about how he breaks down and how
he gets very teary eyed and how emotional it is whenever he has to make
that phone call because those guys are achieving their dream of making it into
the NFL. That was one of the more powerful sound bites I've ever heard
from Mickey Loomis in the time he's been here with the Saints. Yeah, I
agree. I thought that was fantastic listening to it yesterday. I thought it
was *** great peek behind the curtain and insight into who he is as ***
person, how much it means for him to have that moment realizing it's ***
special moment for the player and their family and their friends and he
understands how much that moment means to them. Also, we talked about Mickey
trading up that 2011 draft was when they traded up. They took cam at 24. He
wasn't supposed to be there. Then they came back into the first round at 28.
They took Mark Ingram, the Heisman trophy winner from the University of
Alabama. Both of those guys, I mean, they nailed those picks. I mean, Ingram
is the all time rushing leader in franchise history has been *** key cog
on some great Saints teams as *** free agent now and probably won't be back
and who knows if he'll play again, but he's had *** great career and obviously
Cam is still playing and his pass up Ricky Jackson this year is the Saints
all time sack leader. So now we're going to get to maybe our moment of
truth and we're gonna do our picks for the New Orleans Saints. Um, Sharif. Do
you want to just kick us off if, if that's ok? Yeah, I'll, I'll start first.
I think mine is very boring. I'm very disappointed in myself. I wish I would
just go off the wall and just do something that Saints wouldn't do and
draft like offensive players. But I know the Saints, don't worry. I did,
don't worry, I did. I know you did. I, I, I wish I could have just gone
running back and receiver and just do something crazy and must end up doing
it, but I did not, I just went ahead and pick guys that I think that like
especially in the first round that this team needs to address the defensive
line. So my two picks, I'll just go ahead and, and, and go with it if Brian
Bray, the defensive tackle from Clemson is there, I think, you know, he'd be
*** solid pick. I know it's not the, the sexiest pick. *** lot of people are
up and down on it. But I guess you can convince me they need help on the
defensive line, whether it's *** defensive tackle or defensive end. And
then in the second round, I'll go with Georgia tight end Darnell Washington,
*** physical specimen. You saw what he did against L S U in the S E C
championship game. You know, to bring in *** guy who's won *** couple of
national championships. You'd like to add team players on the team who are
absolute winners. You're getting two winners. If you make these two picks, I
think, you know, the fan base would be somewhat happy if you got both of these
guys and you could build off of that with the third round pick. So I'm gonna
go with Brian Braz Darnell Washington. I, I really think Washington can be
very good with Derek Carr. It's like I said, Derek Carr needs two solid tight
ends. Darren Waller and Fo Morrow. They were good whenever he was with the,
when they played together with the Raiders. And I think to be successful
on this offense, you got to have at least one tied end and look sure if
you're red hot right now. Smoking hot last year, you picked Olave and penning.
So do you want to give yourself *** humble brag or *** pat on the back real
quick? No, because I'm gonna absolutely get every single pick wrong in this
draft because that's just how it is last time I got it. Exactly right with
the Brandon Cooks trade up and the Saints drafting him. And it's been
years since that happened, was that 2014. So we went eight years in between
being right. I'm never right. So, like, I'll take it, I guess I'll have myself
on the back maybe that from last year and then I'll be wrong for the next six
or seven years. All right, the third member of our sports team is on
assignment right now, but she taped the segment for us. So, uh Kendall Duncan
is the newest member of the W DS U sports team. And uh we're gonna get her
picks right now. She is doing something very saints like building in the
trenches, which is what assistant general manager Jeff Ireland who
handles the draft has done since he got here in 2016. Let's hear Kendall and
her two picks. We're just doing the 1st and 2nd picks. The, you know, obviously
the Saints have more picks, but we're focusing on round one and two because
those are very high profile. So Kendall give us your picks. Ok.
With the 29th overall pick, I'm going to go with Khalije Cany out of pit.
He's *** defensive tackle *** little undersized but super fast. We're in the
fastest 40 at the NFL draft combine since they started keeping the stat in
2006. 2nd round. All right. Second round forie overall pick *** big area.
That the Saints need to address the offensive line. I'm going to go with an
offensive guard out of Wisconsin and Joe, the Saints spend *** lot of money
on their quarterback, their guy Derek Carr. So let's protect him.
Look, it's hard to argue with those picks. I mean, I love Elijah can see,
the only reason I didn't put him in my mock draft is because he doesn't fit
the saints' specs. So to say, I love Kendall's picks. I love the mindset
because Jeff Ireland has built, look since he took over, I think, you know,
four defensive linemen, three offensive linemen early in the draft rounds one
or two. So this is his M O build into trenches. So to say, I love Titman at
40. The Saints. Look, Andres Pete's always hurt at guard. Um Cesar Ruiz is
coming off *** foot injury and is on the final year of his rookie contract.
This is *** guy who could play center or guard. You know, I think that Eric
mccoy is one of the best 10 centers in the league, but he was injured last
year. So getting *** guy who could step in this year and potentially take over
long term for Pete um or even Ruiz if you don't sign him, I think is *** good
pick at 40. Getting back to Kanzi Sharif, I think you and I can discuss
him. I love him. I think he's amazing. I would love to pick him, but it would
be outside of the realm of what they've historically done because they follow
the formula of football is *** big man game and they, they, they, they stick
with those size and speed specs, so to say, and he's *** little bit under what
they would normally do. Right. Yeah. What is he like? Two? 82 85 61 arm
length, 30.5. I mean, that is, that's pretty small for defensive tackle
especially. I mean, the two new defensive tackles, they have Shepherd
and Saunders, their arm length are like around 33 under 33 inches. And that's
still kind of like *** little suspect when it comes to arm length. But, hey,
those two guys are in the £300 range and he's at 2 85 and everyone would say,
well, what about Sheldon Rankins though? His arm length wasn't, you know, that
great either, but he was also, what would you say over £300? And he was
very successful. That's ***, *** little bit different. I'm not against the pick.
I like, I like, can see *** lot, you know, Cam Jordan likes K C *** lot. He
wouldn't mind seeing him in the first round. I think she maybe was hanging
out with, uh, Cam Jordan to get that pick, but I wouldn't mind it. But I,
you, you're right. Are they gonna take *** shot at someone that really doesn't
fit their prototype. That's the thing is like everybody keeps saying he's
Sheldon Rankins like height wise, he is, but Sheldon was £15 heavier and his
arms were three inches longer. And that does mean something in this, in this
sport when you're looking at size and speed. So I look, I love Elijah Cany.
It would just be completely outside of the box of what they have done since
2016. When Jeff started handling the draft. There's *** first time for
everything. I just don't know if it's gonna be this time and now we will get
to mock. Um, look, I in, in, in past years, I've gotten close like I had
Peyton Turner *** few years ago in the second round. He went in the first
round. I had Pete Warner in the third round. He went in the second round this
year. I think this is *** deep defensive line draft. So I think they
can get *** guy in maybe the third round or the fourth round or trade back
into the second round. So here's what I've got. You like Darnell Washington,
I pick 40. I think he is *** 25 to 40 guy. He's gonna land somewhere high as
25 no lower than 40. So I'm going with him at 29. I think there's gonna be ***
run of tight ends early. I think the, the kid out of Utah in, in there out of
Notre Dame or the top two tight ends and I could see them go. So if the
Saints don't pick Darnell Washington at 29 I don't think he gets to 40 and I
really like him. So I'm going with him at 29 then I'm doing something
completely different. I'm getting away from what I said about the size in this,
in, in, in the, the specs of the size Devon *** chain is 58 and, and that is,
that is way out of the box of *** normal player. The Saints would take at
40 but he is so electric and so special. I think he could be *** real compliment
to Alvin Kamara, Jamal Williams. I think this is *** guy cut from that
Darren Sprouls mode. And so I think they're gonna like him and maybe pick
him at 40 and, and, and somebody reached out to me and said maybe 40 is
too soon. Well, look Alan Taylor last year was *** consensus third rounder. I
think the highest he was was 70 and he was *** pick in the nineties and the
Saints took him at 49 he's worked out really well. And, and you talked about
this if Mickey Loomis says if we got *** guy, we love, we go get him. I
could see them loving both of those guys. I have no problems with either
one of those picks at all. You know, I don't care about grades and numbers of
where they should be picked. You know, the saints don't care about that. If
they like somebody, they're gonna go out and get them. If the bone chain is
55 to 60 at 40 if that's who they value, they're gonna pick him at number 40. I
have no problem with it. Darnell Washington. I have no problem going at
29. I mean, the thing I would say is, would you do this fletcher? If Ja if
Jamar Gibbs was at number 29 would you take him at 29? Yeah. Uh he's one of
the guys in my cloud. So to say because here's the, here's where I think the
Saints are gonna run into *** problem and I just said it with *** tight end.
Some guys that are there at 29 are not gonna make it to 40. I think Gibbs
doesn't make it to 40. I don't think Washington makes it to 40. So I think
they're gonna have *** big decision. Who do they take at 29? Re especially
if they really love somebody knowing that they may not get to 40. Well, I'll
give you *** couple more tight ends if they don't want to do it *** tight it
in the first or second round Sam Laporta from Iowa or Zach *** from Old
Dominion. If they want to wait till later in the draft and, and address,
you know, whether it be running back and they can wait, hey, look if they
don't draft the running back in the second or third round, maybe, maybe Taj
Spears in the third round is still there or maybe Devon *** is still there
in the third round. If they want to address defensive line that the tight
end or maybe go running back in the first round or defensive line in the
second round and maybe try to steal *** tight end in the third round. I still
think there will be some, but maybe there are some on their board that they
value more than the players we're talking about. But that's the
uncertainty of the first round. But you're right. I think the draft is deep
with defensive linemen. The draft is, is deep with running back and I think
it's deep at tight end.
Yeah, and then quickly here before we wrap it up here about maybe *** minute
each year and then we'll say goodbye to the Saints draft, *** quarterback early.
I could see him drafting like the kid Hanger out of Fresno State in the
fourth or fifth round, especially if they can't move one of those fifth
round picks to get up. I can't see them. I think it's *** wasted pick if they
take like Hendon hooker at 29. I feel like Derek Carr is their guy and they
got needs in 29. 40 and 71 are value picks that can help immediately. Yeah,
if anything is it. Aidan o'connell, the guy from Purdue, maybe, like if they
still have one of those fifth round picks, I maybe do it there. But I, I
honestly, I don't, you know how much I love Hinton Hooker. If he's still there,
I don't think I could do it as, I mean, not, I don't, don't, don't think I'd do
it at 40 either. They just need too many players in *** few positions. They
need *** linebacker, they need defensive tackle, defensive end, they
need *** running back. They could use another safety. That's another position
we need to talk about there, Martin from Illinois. I think he'd be *** good
pick in the third round and they just need so many positions. I can't do it.
I don't even think I could do it in the later rounds if they need that many
positions, you know, to address and, and create some more depth on that team
because as you know, they always go down with injuries on the line, both
sides of the line and sometimes in the secondary. So at some point, they have
to build the depth of this team. Yeah. All right. That's gonna wrap up our
little digital draft special. We appreciate everybody watching wherever
you are on your phone at work, having lunch, doing whatever and we'll have
*** ton of draft content coming up, Riff and I are headed to the Saints
facility. We'll be live at all of our newscasts. Today. 456 and 10. Um We'll
have more detail content. Welcome to New Orleans Graphics. When the Saints
make the pick. Um We'll hear from Mickey Loomis Dennis Allen the whole
shebang. So again, thank you for uh for, for watching and uh and watching W DS U
and continue to stay with us for all of your uh your Saints news. Also one
quick plug. We have *** new Sunday sports show game on and we are
dedicating this Sunday sports show to all things Saints draft, Sharif Kendall
Duncan myself. We'll have Jim Mora, our analyst, Lance Moore in so this Sunday
at 11 PM, all Saints all the time. But for now, uh it looks like the rain is
over. Enjoy your Thursday and enjoy the draft tonight. Thanks for watching.