New Orleans Saints 2020 NFL Draft grades: Sean Payton does it again
By Josh Hill
Best Pick: Zack Baun, LB, Wisconsin
This is such a Sean Payton pick. Baun was slated to be a second-round pick, with some mocks even projecting a last-minute jump into the back of the first. Neither of those things happened and Baun slipped to the third round, where the Saints pounced.
Payton’s fetish is to take guys you might tangentially be aware and then use them in ways that make them household contributors. Taysom Hill epitomizes this mentality, and Baun might be the next evolution. He won’t anchor the defense but he’ll be an incredible piece of a machine that already consists of parts like Cam Jordan, Marshon Lattimore, Janoris Jenkins, and Marcus Davenport. Baun fits like a glove in New Orleans.
Worst Pick: Only having three picks
It’s a little impossible to say the Saints had a bad pick when they only had three of them, and traded up to get the last one: Adam Trautman.
It’s not a bad pick to trade up to draft the Dayton tight end, it’s what the Saints gave up to get him that might puzzle fans. New Orleans used the fewest amount of draft picks since 1999, which was the year Mike Ditka traded everything to move up and select Ricky Williams. That’s the connection being made with Trautman, who the Saints used all of their remaining picks to package in a deal with the Vikings to trade back into the third round.
The spin is that the Saints knew who they wanted and didn’t need to go get anyone else. This is a team trying to win a Super Bowl this year with Drew Brees so there’s no real need to draft deep into the weekend. New Orleans saw a top-heavy draft, filled positions of need with quality players, and opted for that over quantity.