New Orleans Saints add EDGE rusher in redraft of 2021 NFL Draft
The New Orleans Saints surprised a lot of people when they went with Payton Turner No. 28 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. Turner only appeared in five games and spent the rest of the season on IR, which was disappointing, to say the least.
It’s not shocking that in redrafts of last year’s draft, people have NOLA going in a different direction and not taking Turner.
In the latest redraft from Chris Trapasso from CBS Sports, New Orleans selected Odafe Oweh from Penn State. Oweh ended up going No. 31 overall to the Ravens and had a nice rookie campaign in the purple and black.
Here was Trapasso’s reasoning for having the Saints go with Oweh in his redraft:
"Oweh had a fair share of his pressures schemed for him in Baltimore, but the raw ability is through the roof."
New Orleans Saints take Odafe Oweh in redraft of last year’s draft
Oweh finished his rookie season with 33 tackles (five for loss), 15 QB hits, five sacks, three forced fumbles, and one defended pass through 15 games and two starts. Can you imagine that kind of intensity to the Saints’ defense? That would have been a lot of fun to watch!
Oweh’s production is what the Saints were hoping to get from Turner but injuries kept him off the field. It also felt like the selection of Turner was a way for the team to hit the redo button on Marcus Davenport, who was labeled as a bust at the time.
Hey, the drafting of Turner did some good, as it lit a fire under Davenport and he ended up putting together the best season of his career, so at least there was that.
It’s not surprising to see the Saints go in a different direction when these redraft articles come out and it’s even less surprising that Turner doesn’t even go in the first round. He wasn’t thought of as a first-round prospect leading up to the draft so when NOLA grabbed him, the reaction from most fans was — “Who is that?”
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Turner is still young and has a chance to turn things around, but yeah, after one year, it’s safe to say New Orleans would want a mulligan with this pick.