Wide receiver is easy red flag for NOLA Saints entering NFL Draft
When it comes to what the NOLA Saints‘ biggest red flag is as we get closer to the 2022 NFL Draft, it’s not hard to figure out — It’s the wide receiver position. This isn’t a new thing either, as the Saints have been struggling to find a viable WR2 for several years now.
Last year, New Orleans entered the 2021 NFL Draft knowing they needed a wide receiver and what did they do? They waited until the seventh round to even draft one. That pick, Kawaan Baker, did next to nothing during the 2021 season.
The Saints put all of their eggs in the Michael Thomas basket and that blew up in their faces, as Thomas never took the field and the offense struggled as a result.
It’s no surprise that Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report said that the Saints’ biggest red flag as they inch closer to the draft is wide receiver.
"Right now, the Saints’ top wide receiver is Michael Thomas, who set a single-season record with 149 catches in 2019. The problem is that Thomas has missed a whopping 26 games in the two years since, including all of last campaign. Outside of Thomas, the pool of talent at wide receiver is more like a puddle.That’s not going to make things easy for quarterback Jameis Winston in 2022."
Wide receiver is NOLA Saints’ biggest red flag
As Davenport mentions, Thomas hasn’t been healthy since the 2019 season. Yes, when he was last fully healthy, he put up gaudy numbers for the black and gold but he was banged up in 2020 and failed to find the end zone for the first time in his career and then missed all of 2021. Who’s to say that Thomas will even be the same kind of player when he takes the field in 2022?
With New Orleans adding a second pick in the first round, one would think the team would spend one of those selections on a wide receiver. If they don’t, however, there are still plenty of targets for them to add in the second round who could still give their offense a major boost.
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For whatever reason, the Saints haven’t made finding a quality WR2 a priority but hopefully that changes with Dennis Allen taking over as the head coach.