The New Orleans Saints draft success will hinder their future success

The New Orleans Saints’ own success in the 2017 NFL Draft will hinder their ability to succeed in the coming years as new contracts must be handed out.

Typically, NFL franchises find success in a mix of talented rookies on low-value deals and developed veterans that anchor the team. Well, it’s all about to hit the New Orleans Saints at once and difficult decisions will have to be made.

First off, let’s look back at the 2017 NFL Draft, a group of picks that could go down as the best in Saints history. Honestly, when it’s all said and done, it may go down as one of the best single-team drafts in the league’s history.

Alvin Kamara. Marshon Lattimore. Ryan Ramczyk. Trey Hendrickson. Marcus Williams. Alex Anzalone.

Six starters, all likely to be seeking new contracts or just force the team’s hand with a holdout. Obviously, Lattimore and Kamara will have a bigger pull than a player like Anzalone, but at the end of the day, they’ll all need to be paid to keep this team running at a high level.

With a quarterback situation in limbo as well, the future is a difficult one to predict.

The last two drafts have been successful for New Orleans but not at the level of 2017. They could be looking at a minimum of four high-value contracts with Lattimore, Kamara, and Ramczyk all easily top players at their position throughout the league.

The Saints just paid Thomas a nine-figure contract this past offseason, and they’ll potentially be looking at a haul to keep two quarterbacks from last year’s roster. That said, drafting talent in the 2020 draft will be of utmost importance as a few of these 2017 draftees will likely walk.

It’s ideal to keep all your players, but the Saints were so wildly successful in the 2017 draft that the reality of that happening is looking bleak.

The Saints will make the wise decision, but it’s sad that the team likely won’t be able to retain them all.