There was a moment early in Friday night’s NFL draft when some wondered whether the New Orleans Saints might stop the slide for the last prospect remaining in the green room.
Alabama safety Brian Branch was still available when the Saints' turn came around in the second round with the No. 40 overall pick. He was thought by many to be a top-20 prospect and was widely considered the draft’s top safety, a position some figured New Orleans might address with one of its top picks.
But the Saints passed on him (Branch eventually went five spots later to Detroit) and selected Notre Dame defensive end Isaiah Foskey. For those who have been closely watching what the Saints value, the decision should not have been a surprise.
Foskey plays a premium position and possesses elite athletic traits. He fits the Saints’ size requirements. Foskey was a team captain at Notre Dame.
While Branch may wind up being an excellent NFL player, he did not fit all of those criteria, being undersized (5-foot-11, 190 pounds) with middle-of-the-road athletic testing numbers.
This Saints' draft class looks a lot like the ones that came before it, meaning the Saints prioritized the traits Foskey so clearly represented. With their seven picks in the 2023 draft, the Saints almost exclusively selected big and athletic players. Nearly all of them were all-conference performers in college, and about half were team captains.
Start with the size. Like the case with Branch, many wondered if Georgia pass rusher Nolan Smith might be in play for the Saints in the first round, but the reality is he never would have landed in New Orleans unless he unexpectedly fell much later than he did (the Eagles selected Smith 30th overall).
The Saints place a premium on players who fit their size prototypes. Smith roughly fit the Saints’ size prototype at linebacker, but he was nowhere close to the size the team seeks at defensive end, and New Orleans would not have drafted Smith as an off-ball linebacker.
Here are the Saints’ seven draft picks, listed by their height and weight. Listed next to them in parentheses is the average height and weight of players drafted by the Saints under college scouting director Jeff Ireland at their respective positions from 2016-22.
- Clemson DT Bryan Bresee, 6-5, 298 (6-3⅓, 297.7)
- Notre Dame DE Isaiah Foskey, 6-5, 264 (6-4½, 262.8)
- TCU RB Kendre Miller, 5-11, 215 (5-9⅔, 206)
- Old Dominion OT Nick Saldiveri, 6-6, 318 (6-6½, 314)
- Fresno State QB Jake Haener, 6-0, 207 (6-2½, 223)
- Minnesota S Jordan Howden, 6-0, 203 (6-0⅓, 202.3)
- Wake Forest WR A.T. Perry, 6-3, 198 (6-1½, 203)
From a size perspective alone, the Saints have been remarkably consistent with the type of player they draft. Foskey and Howden almost perfectly fit the average at their respective positions. The only outlier is Haener, and the Saints have made clear in the past they evaluate quarterbacks differently than other positions.
Next, look at how the players tested athletically. One of the buzz phrases this time of year, especially around here, is Relative Athletic Score (RAS). It is a metric designed by Kent Lee Platte that, in very simple terms, scores a player’s athleticism relative to his size and position on a 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest) scale.
If it wasn’t clear before, this year should hammer home the fact that the Saints clearly prioritize high-level athletes. Two of the Saints draftees — Haener and Miller — did not go through enough tests at either the NFL combine or their pro day to generate a RAS score, but the other five tested very well.
- Bresee: 9.61 RAS
- Foskey: 9.62 RAS
- Saldiveri: 9.47 RAS
- Howden: 8.88 RAS
- Perry: 9.62 RAS
For reference, anything above an 8.0 is considered elite — putting players in the 80th percentile of draft-eligible players to test at either the NFL combine or a pro day since 1987.
In their last four drafts, counting this year, the Saints have drafted 19 players who have generated a RAS score at the combine or a pro day (three did not test). Seventeen of those players have scored 8.29 or higher, and 13 of them scored 9.06 or better. The only outliers were linebacker Zack Baun (7.85) and quarterback Ian Book (7.36).
For what it’s worth, Branch had a 5.27 RAS, largely because of his 5-11, 190-pound frame.
The size and athleticism traits are clearly important, but New Orleans doesn’t just draft players based on how they measure at the combine. It also has targeted team leaders who were highly productive players in college.
Three of the team’s first five picks this season were team captains (with the only outliers being Bresee and Miller, who were college juniors). All but Howden landed on some sort of all-conference team.
New Orleans has selected 22 players in its last four drafts. Half of them have been team captains, while 18 of them were all-conference performers.
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Saints' draft class fit a well-established mold — lots of big, athletic, productive leaders - NOLA.com
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