A position-by-position look at the New Orleans Saints’ draft needs, ranked in order of importance from 1-14:
Current depth chart:
Jairus Byrd. Age 28. Signed through 2019.
Kenny Vaccaro. Age 24. Signed through 2016 (Saints have fifth-year option for 2017).
Rafael Bush. Age 27. Signed through 2015.
Jamarca Sanford. Age 29. Signed through 2015.
Pierre Warren. Age 22. Scheduled to become exclusive-rights free agent in 2016.
Vinnie Sunseri. Age 21. Signed through 2017.
Marcus Ball. Age 27. Scheduled to become restricted free agent in 2017.
Kenny Phillips. Age 28. Signed through 2015.
Ty Zimmerman. Age 24. Scheduled to become restricted free agent in 2017.
Draft possibilities: The Saints are loaded with depth at safety now that all of last year’s injured guys are back healthy (Byrd, Bush, Sunseri and Zimmerman). So the Saints would be fine if they skip the position entirely in both the draft and the undrafted rookie pool. Saints coach Sean Payton specifically said last month, “I don’t see us doing anything at safety with our depth” when he was running through the team’s remaining needs.
However, the Saints have made it a top priority to upgrade their defense overall. So they wouldn’t completely ignore the position if a highly-graded player is available, one they believe could develop into a future core player on defense or special teams.
Alabama’s Landon Collins is the only safety widely rated as a surefire first-round prospect. It would be surprising to see the Saints jump on him with the 13th pick in Round 1, and he likely won’t fall to No. 31.
Previous entries:
No. 12, Running back
