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

I was going to say 2006 as well. And interestingly during that draft you actually saw the Saints make draft position trades that involved accumulating veteran players


2006

Traded 2nd Round pick (No. 34, D’Qwell Jackson) to Browns for Jeff Faine and 2nd Round pick (No. 43, Roman Harper)
Traded 4th Round pick (No. 99, Max Jean-Gilles) to Eagles for Hollis Thomas and 4th Round pick (No. 108, Jahri Evans)
Traded Wayne Gandy to Falcons for Bryan Scott and conditional 2007 7th Round pick (No. 220, Marvin Mitchell)

Saints also traded for Mark Simoneau in August of that year.