New Orleans Saints: 2016 7-round NFL mock draft
By John Buhler
Admittedly, Auburn has not had a great defense in any of the first three years of the Gus Malzahn era on The Plains. That being said, one player that seemed to do more right than wrong on the Auburn defense is inside linebacker Cassanova McKinzy. With inside linebacker as a tertiary need for the club, would the Saints consider taking the SEC product with their seventh round selection at No. 237?
McKinzy has the build to play inside linebacker at the NFL level, but may not end up having the discipline to succeed in the NFL long term because of his frenetic playing style. At Auburn, McKinzy had to scramble all over the gridiron to make plays on porous Auburn defenses the last four years.
What will end up helping McKinzy more than anything is to have great NFL coaching to improve his technique as an inside linebacker. He tackles well, he strikes with authority, he moves well, and he seems to have an innate knack for finding the football.
If the Saints can find a series of defensive packages to integrate McKinzy into early in his NFL career, he could potentially overcome his game discipline and emotionally raw style of playing inside linebacker to become a great seventh round steal in the 2016 NFL Draft.
Given that Auburn isn’t at that far away from New Orleans, the Saints may still bring him into rookie mini camp even if they don’t use their seventh round pick on McKinzy in the 2016 NFL Draft.
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