Todd McShay on why Saints signed Etienne

Here is the rest of what McShay posted about Love in the top 10:

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Will Jeremiyah Love Still Be a Top-10 Pick?

I said even before his eye-popping combine workout that Jeremiyah Love was going to be a top-10 draft pick, but a key question remains: Who’s taking him?

On Monday, three teams I previously identified as potential fits for Love—the Cardinals (Tyler Allgeier), Saints (Travis Etienne), and Chiefs (Ken Walker)—signed free-agent running backs, which significantly narrows Love’s market in the top 10. But only one team needs to fall in love with him, and it’s possible the Chiefs and Saints had intel to suggest he wouldn’t last until their respective draft positions. And for Arizona, maybe they just saw more value at the position in free agency.

Which brings us to the other best fits in the top 10: the Titans at 4 and the Giants at 5. If it’s not one of them, I could see the Commanders at 7 taking the swing to give Jayden Daniels a young, electric playmaking partner—in the running and receiving game—under contract for the foreseeable future. The Commanders could (and should) also field calls for the pick. In that scenario, I could see a team like the Vikings trading up.

The take-home message: Love is the best player in the draft—and the best player doesn’t get to pick 11, regardless of position. As of this moment, I think there’s a less than 10 percent chance he falls.

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He's a top 5 player, but I don't think it's a given that he'll be picked in the top 5. There are definitely teams that can be improved with Love, but the positional value and the fact that 3 teams in the top 10, and in the RB market, just invested in RBs makes it not as obvious that he'll get picked top 5/10.

I hope so. That would be huge for the saints

Really hoping he is available at 8 and we can work out a trade down, even though I think Mickey Loomis is allergic to trading down.

The Rams seem to be going for it.

Would they give up Picks 13 and 61 for 8 to draft Love?

I think you can still land a pro bowl caliber player at a position of need at 13. (Delane, Lemon, Tyson) and then pickup another potential starter at 61 like Josiah Trotter, Keylan Rutledge, Elijah Sarrat, or a TE depending on what you do at 13 and 42.

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Mickey Loomis and Brett Veach were well aware that Love wasn’t making it to them

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Or, now hear me out here, the saints did what they do every year by leaking their targeted players as a smoke screen to try and get their true target to drop down to them.

I love how every talking head knows what the Saints are doing as if they know what’s better for us than our coach and general manager.