ClutchPoints
Heading into the 2025 NFL offseason, the New Orleans Saints are $51 million over the salary cap, which is the worst cap situation in the league by more than $20 million. This cap quagmire will affect every aspect of the Saints offseason, including the 2025 NFL Draft. So, let’s get into it by looking at a Saints three-round 2025 NFL Mock Draft with trades, according to the Pro Football Network simulator.
With new head coach Kellen Moore now in charge, the smartest thing for the Saints to do this offseason would be to purge the roster of its bloated contracts to aging veterans and start over for real in 2026.
While punting to the season after next makes the most sense, that starts with the 2025 NFL Draft. If New Orleans does it right, these picks will become the foundation of their rebuild.
What does that mean?
For starters, even though this is the Saints’ three-round 2025 NFL Mock Draft with trades, the team should absolutely not trade up for any reason. If they want to trade back, that’s fine (and even recommended), but they simply need more warm bodies with upside in the building this year.
Secondly, it means that there is no such thing as positional need for the Saints. They should take the best player available at all times, laying the foundation for years to come.
With all that in mind, here is the Saints’ three-round 2025 NFL Mock Draft with trades, according to the PFN simulator.
This first pick that the PFN 2025 NFL Mock Draft simulator spits out is exactly what we’re talking about here as the Saints grab Volunteers’ pass-rusher James Pearce Jr.
Pearce is a little undersized at 6-foot-5 and just 243 pounds and needs to improve strength and add mass if he can. Still, in college, he was an explosive, productive edge rusher who had 17.5 sacks in his last two seasons in Knoxville.
He is a bit of a boom-or-bust prospect, but his upside is a double-digit-sack dominator who you can build an entire defense around. With that as the best outcome, the Saints can afford to take that chance as they rebuild from the ground up.
New Orleans actually had a pretty solid offensive line last year. The group finished 22nd in PFF’s final O-line grades, but when center Eric McCoy was not injured, they were much better than that.
Young tackles (and recent first-round picks) Trevor Penning and Taliese Fuaga showed signs of development and veteran guards Cesar Ruiz and Lucas Patrick were both among the top half of starting players at the position.
Still, Moore comes from the Dallas Cowboys and, most recently, the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, two offenses whose success comes (or has come in the past) from having dominant O-lines.
Wyatt Milum is a 6-foot-6, 315-pound tackle with short arms who projects...
