3 recent Saints draft picks who could be cut in summer of 2022

These recent New Orleans Saints draft picks could find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to making the final 53-man roster. 

Just because a player gets drafted by a team doesn’t mean that they’re guaranteed to make it through the end of their rookie contract. The New Orleans Saints have certainly hit on draft picks but they’ve also had their fair share of bad picks as well.

Training camp and preseason allows teams to figure out who they want to be on their roster for the upcoming regular season. This means that even though the Saints thought enough to draft these players, they could find themselves left off the roster when all is said and done this summer.

Let’s look at three recent Saints draft picks who might get cut before the regular season kicks off in September.

All stats courtesy of CBS Sports

3. Zack Baun

New Orleans spent a third-round pick on Zack Baun in the 2020 NFL Draft; at the time, it looked like a steal. Baun had been projected as a first-round pick that offseason so for him to fall to the Saints in the third round seemed too good to be true.

Baun was coming off a 12.5 sack season with the Wisconsin Badgers and fans felt like he’d add the perfect level of explosiveness to the Saints’ pass rush. Sadly, though, Baun hasn’t been used in a pass-rushing role and his zero sacks indicate that in two seasons.

Baun has become more of a special teams contributor and that’s not what the Saints signed up for when they spent a third-rounder on him. While Baun probably doesn’t get cut this summer, the Saints do have quite a bit of competition at linebacker, including Andrew Dowell, D’Marco Jackson, and Eric Wilson, who could bump Baun out of his second-string role.

The former Wisconsin product certainly isn’t a lock to make the 53-man roster. He has to step up this summer.