re: When was the last time you recall the Saints having THIS big a hole at a position group?

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I’d rather address the issue right now and I’m not really factoring 2024 success into it.

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So you'll take an inferior player and over-draft him...why?

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but it’s also for the future.

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So we want that inferior player for the future, too?

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The lions weren’t a Penei Sewell away from the Super Bowl in 2021 but still addressed the issue

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Sewell was an elite OT prospect. Vastly superior to every option this year.

You could make an argument to move up for a Sewell-level OT, for the reasons you just posted.

There is no Sewell-level OT prospect this year, and we won't get a shot at the best guy of this inferior class.

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Bad picks happen at roughly the same rate across the board.

You counter that by accumulating as many picks as you can. Over time, that volume produces better rosters.

So while this isn't in the cap doesn't exist bro strategy directly, it is in the same tomorrow doesn't matter overall strategy our team has.

No team is amazing at identifying talent in the draft. This is a myth that egotistical Pro Player/GM guys sell themselves. You get good at drafting by having a lot of picks.

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It's not like the Saints haven't addressed the OL in prior drafts. In fact, they've taken at least one OL in each of the last 5 drafts. On three occasions with either their first or second pick that year. Juxtapose that with the 2013 - 2018 drafts where the Saints only took two OL (Peat and Ramczyk)

The problem has been that they missed BIG on their previous two first round OL picks (Ruiz and Penning). It's one thing if a guy doesn't quite work out as well as you expected but still contributes (like Peat). It's another when one guy (Ruiz) is one of the worst in the league and the other (Penning) evidently isn't even good enough to play in a backup role. Combine that with the somewhat unexpected news that one player (Hurst) is retiring and another (Ramcyzk) is likely to do the same, and everything has fallen apart almost all at once.

Now, it would be nice to have some money to offset that in free agency (which the Saints rarely have) or a re-do on the Penning pick. But more than that, the Saints probably need to adjust their scouting priorities. Notably, not falling in love with largely unheralded guys at the Senior Bowl.

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Sewell was rated 6.73 by NFL.com, Latham is rated 6.71, the rest are 6.41-6.49.

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NFL.com rates its players within the draft.

They had Cody fricking Pickett rated the same as JJ and slightly below Maye

They had the same gap in Cody Pickett and JD/Caleb as Sewell and the non-Latham OTs, basically.

Also, they had Pickett rated higher than Nix and a chunk ahead of Pennix, which is clown shoes.

Well I was busy putting my 7/8 year old baseball team big board together recently to finish my OL evaluations. I didn’t grind enough tape this year so I’m relying on nfl.com

I have been going to the games since day one. I remember when they had this many holes in every position group.