Canal Street Chronicles
Offense is the focus.
The start of the 2024 college football is upon us, and there are many players the New Orleans Saints should be excited to draft. Although the 2025 NFL draft is far in the future, teams are already scouting prospects that could fix potential needs for the next offseason. It is also never too early to get familiar with some potential Saints prospects, so here we go.
In this mock draft, I have the Saints picking at 10 based on where many different simulators have them selecting. Even if the Saints do end up drafting closer to pick 20, it is still feasible that the team could choose these prospects.
For the first pick, I have the Saints selecting Jonah Savaiinaea out of Arizona. At 6-foot-5, 330 pounds, Savaiinaea primarily plays right tackle while also being versatile enough to play guard. He is a dominant pass protector, only allowing 2 sacks last season and finishing with an 81.7 pass-blocking PFF grade. One aspect of his game that needs to improve is run blocking, but that might not be an issue. Savaiinaea’s impressive agility and high football IQ should allow him to develop further in this area.
The Saints are entering the 2024/25 season with glaring offensive line issues. Although things could get better throughout the season, Trevor Penning is struggling at right tackle. Going into next offseason, this position is most likely to be a top need. Selecting Jonah Savaiinaea would add an instant improvement to pass protection, and even though his run blocking is unrefined, he has the football skills to improve under Klint Kubiak.
In the second round of this mock draft, the Saints select wide receiver Elic Ayomanor. Last season for Stanford, Ayomanor had 1,013 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns. One of his most impressive catches from last season came in the picture above. On this play, Ayomanor was able to catch a heavily contested pass on the back of possibly the most talented player in the country, Travis Hunter. At 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, contested catches are a specialty of Ayomanor’s game, and his ability to adjust to any throw is a quarterback’s dream. In addition, he has great speed, which makes him a massive yards-after-catch threat. One of the knocks on Ayomanor’s game is his lack of separation ability and overall route-running. This is one of the reasons he has to make a lot of contested grabs, but if he consistently makes the catches, then the lack of separation is less of an issue.
The Saints are going into the 2024/25 season without a solidified third wide receiver. During training camp and preseason, different receivers have been taking that spot, and if injuries continue, the wide receiver position could be an issue throughout the season. Ayomanor would bring the contested catch and YAC ability the Saints were looking for going into this past offseason. Matching his game with the...
