3 takeaways from the NOLA Saints’ intriguing 2022 draft choices

The NOLA Saints‘ 2022 NFL Draft is in the books and it was an interesting draft for the black and gold. Armed with seven picks entering the draft, the Saints exited the draft with five new members after trading two picks to move up in round one.

That move up was to nab Ohio State’s Chris Olave with the 11th pick. The Saints sent the No. 16 pick, their third-rounder, and fourth-rounder to the Commanders to move up five spots to take the Buckeye wideout. It was a move that needed to be done considering how bad the wide receiver corp was in 2021.

Eight picks later, Trevor Penning also joined the black and gold in the first round. The Northern Iowa offensive tackle very well could be Terron Armstead’s replacement moving forward but he’ll have to beat James Hurst out for the starting gig.

In the second round, it felt like the Saints panicked a bit when Jaquan Brisker went off the board one pick ahead of them. That led them to grab Alontae Taylor out of Tennessee, which felt like a huge reach.

NOLA didn’t have a third or fourth-round selection so they sat back and waited until round five arrived to make their next pick. D’Marco Jackson was that pick and offers a nice piece to the linebacking corps.

With their fifth and final pick, New Orleans took Jordan Jackson out of Air Force to bolster their defensive line even more.

With these five players joining the Saints, what takeaways were there to be had in the 2022 draft? Let’s take a look.