When the New Orleans Saints gather in their war room for the 2023 NFL Draft, it will mark Jeff Ireland’s eighth as the organization’s college scouting director.
Since Ireland has been in charge of the college scouting department, the Saints’ draft classes have hit far more often than they’ve flopped. Ireland has garnered praise for the outstanding 2017 draft class, but several other years have produced high-level contributors, while only one of his first seven classes (2018) contained more misses than hits.
New Orleans has drafted 39 players since Ireland took over as the college scouting director prior to the 2016 draft. Of those 39, only three never made a game-day roster (including linebacker D’Marco Jackson, who spent his 2022 rookie season on injured reserve). More than half (22) have served as a primary starter at their position for at least one season.
Seven draft classes also provide enough of a sample size to assess trends. After digging through Ireland’s history in New Orleans, here’s what emerged.
Go big early
New Orleans has made eight first-round selections in Ireland’s tenure, and six of those picks have bolstered the team’s offensive or defensive lines. Even the two outliers come with a caveat: In the years the Saints drafted cornerback Marshon Lattimore and receiver Chris Olave, they also selected offensive tackles (Ryan Ramczyk and Trevor Penning) later in the first round.
The one year the Saints didn’t have a first-round pick, they selected center Erik McCoy with their top selection (48th overall in 2019).
This seems less to be strictly related to Ireland’s preferences than it is an organizational philosophy. As coach Dennis Allen recently said at the NFL owners meetings, “It’s a big man’s game.”
Taking one look at some of the contracts being handed out to players at these positions, it’s a smart way to use resources. If one of those players hits, a team can realize massive savings over the course of their rookie contract. Here’s an average of what the 10 highest earners make at their respective positions, by average annual value.
- Defensive end: $19.1 million
- Defensive tackle: $21 million
- Offensive tackle: $20.5 million
- Offensive guard: $16 million
For context, the player the Saints select with the No. 29 pick will cost a little more than $3 million, on average, for the next four years.
It would not be a surprise to see the Saints go in this direction again, though they should not be above criticism here: Of the six offensive and defensive linemen they’ve drafted in the first round, only one has developed into a top-level player (Ramczyk).
Injuries have taken a huge toll on those players. Sheldon Rankins and Marcus Davenport both flashed huge potential, but they dealt with near constant injury issues. The jury is still out on Penning and defensive end Payton Turner, who have combined to play 19 of 51 possible games because of injuries.
Day 2 home runs
New Orleans’ first-round track record under Ireland’s direction is only so-so, but he has more than made up for that with successes in Rounds 2 and 3.
The Saints have made six second-round selections since Ireland took over in 2016. All of them — including last year’s second-round pick, Alontae Taylor — have been, at minimum, high-level starters. Three of them (receiver Michael Thomas, center Erik McCoy and safety Marcus Williams) have signed contracts that made them top-five earners at their position.
The third round also has been kind to the Saints. Alvin Kamara (67th overall) made the Pro Bowl in five of his first six seasons. Trey Hendrickson (103rd overall) blossomed in his final season in New Orleans, then made back-to-back Pro Bowls in his first two seasons with the Bengals.
This is also the area where the Saints tend to stock up on their skill-position players: Of the 13 second- and third-round picks the team has made since Ireland’s arrival, only two played along the offensive or defensive lines.
Day 3 not a priority
The Saints seem to focus much of their draft energy getting as many Day 1 or 2 picks right as they can, using their late-round picks to sweeten trade proposals rather than using them to take a flier on flawed prospects.
Take this example: In the last seven drafts, the Saints have made six selections in the fourth and fifth rounds combined. Of the 39 picks the Saints have made since Ireland’s arrival, more than half (21) were made in the first three rounds.
This strategy was in place well before Ireland’s arrival. In the five drafts before Ireland took over as the college scouting director, the Saints made two fourth-round picks.
It’s hard to argue with their reasoning. For all the later-round successes such as C.J. Gardner-Johnson, David Onyemata and Kaden Elliss, there are double the amount of players who didn’t pan out. The Saints used a fourth-rounder on offensive tackle Rick Leonard, who has almost seen as many practice squads (six) as NFL snaps (seven).
At a certain point, it becomes much harder to discern which draftable players are going to contribute to an NFL team. But it’s still worth making the picks, because sometimes it takes a long time — or a change of scenery — for the initial vision to come to fruition.
The Saints waived sixth-round running back Boston Scott shortly after he made the team’s initial 53-man roster in 2018, and he has since gone on to play an important role with the Philadelphia Eagles. A similar story was true for 2017 seventh-rounder Al-Quadin Muhammad, who has carved out a nice career after playing sparingly as a rookie in New Orleans.
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