The 2025 NFL Draft is still months away; both college and the NFL have a lot of football left to be played in their respective seasons. However, draft season never ends for fans and analysts. That’s especially the case when your NFL team is bad.
Fans of the New Orleans Saints, who are 2-7, are already thinking about prospects. The team has reached a point where winning becomes detrimental to draft positioning, and that’s what a lot of fans are focused on right now.
While a lot has to take place before teams start narrowing in on prospects, there is one 2025 prospect that has already become a popular mock pick for the Saints.
PFF recently released the most popular picks for each team, based on users’ selections in the PFF mock draft simulator. For New Orleans, the most popular selection has been Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham, who has been mocked to New Orleans in 24.6% of drafts.
Mason Graham is most popular pick for Saints in early 2025 mock drafts
Graham entered this collegiate season as one of the highest-rated prospects, and he has been delivering on expectations. The Michigan defensive tacke is a force against the run, and can also get after quarterbacks. Considering New Orleans’ inconsistent ability to do both, it make sense why he has emerged as an early option in mock drafts.
However, regardless of how good he is, Saints fans probably aren’t going to be happy with using a top-10 pick on a defensive tackle. Fans will have their sights set on quarterbacks and wide receivers, understandably. If New Orleans keeps losing, the team will likely pick in the top five, and would have multiple top quarterbacks and receivers to choose from.
With that positioning, it would be hard to sell fans on the idea of an interior defensive lineman. However, everything would be forgiven if Graham becomes the kind of professional many scouts think he can be.