re: Team better move fast if they want Lael

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The Saints worked out Collins at LSU's Pro Day in late March and took him out to dinner. Coach Sean Payton expressed interest in Collins during the draft over the weekend, but said he was hesitant to pick him as he figured other teams were as well because of the recent news.

"We had a really good grade on Collins," Payton said Thursday night. "Teams are projecting him at tackle and guard, and our projection with him is as a guard. I think he's a very dominant player, physical."

Payton identified guard as a need for the Saints entering the draft, and Collins is built more like a guard at 6-foot-4 and 308 pounds. He played left guard as a sophomore at LSU in 2012 before starting his last two seasons at left tackle. The Saints took offensive tackle Andrus Peat of Stanford with the 13th pick of the first round and drafted no guards or offensive linemen.

New Orleans did sign two undrafted free agent guards on Monday afternoon – Doniel Gambrell (6-6, 315) of Notre Dame and Cyril Lemon (6-3, 315) of North Texas and an offensive tackle in Sean Hickey (6-6, 306) of Syracuse."

"If we were just looking at the grade of the player, he did a lot of good things for LSU," Payton said of Collins on Saturday. "There's an interest in any young offensive lineman."