The New Orleans Saints have been tabbed as one of six finalists for Inside the League’s Best Draft award, which will be given out this Wednesday ahead of this year’s scouting combine in Indianapolis. The distinction, given out annually since 2018, is awarded to the organization with the best or most productive haul of rookies from the season prior’s draft class.
New Orleans was awarded the inaugural Best Draft award following their historic draft class of 2017 that included players such as Ryan Ramczyk, Marshon Lattimore, Alvin Kamara, Marcus Williams, and Trey Hendrickson. Lattimore and Kamara would go on to win the defensive and offensive rookie of the year awards, respectively.
Following a strong showing from this year’s group of draft picks, New Orleans is once more in contention for the award and will have a good chance to become the first team to win it multiple times. This year’s draft class, led by first-round pick Kelvin Banks Jr. and Pepsi Zero-Sugar Rookie of the Year Tyler Shough, gave the Saints a foundational base to initiate a true reset. Vernon Broughton, Jonas Sanker, Danny Stutsman, Quincy Riley, Devin Neal, Moliki Matavao, and Fadil Diggs round out the rest of the 25’ class for the Saints.
The other finalists named for this year’s award are the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, New York Giants, Carolina Panthers, and New England Patriots. The Los Angeles Rams came away with the honor last season.
Even though we may not agree with every selection individually or have strong performances year in and year out, one thing we can all still see is that Mickey Loomis and Jeff Ireland know how to consistently put together dominant classes.