Early Saints 2023 mock draft after Week 1 of the college football season

While the 2023 NFL Draft might seem far away, it's never too early to start talking about what the New Orleans Saints might do when the draft gets here in April. Unfortunately, the black and gold don't have a first-round pick due to their trade with the Eagles that netted them an extra first-round pick so this mock draft won't be long.

Due to us only being one week into the college football season, Pro Football Focus only let me mock two rounds. As mentioned above, since the Saints don't hold a first-round pick this year, I was only able to make one selection for them, which came at No. 44.

New Orleans Saints 2023 Mock Draft

Round 2: Pick 44 - Jack Campbell, LB (Iowa)

Remember all of the linebacker injuries this summer? The Saints were desperate enough at the position to give Kiko Alonso a shot when the guy hadn't played in two years. Of course, we all know how that ended but it's safe to say that New Orleans needs to add a linebacker in the 2023 draft, especially if Pete Werner ends up being injury-prone.

Jack Campbell played tight end for one year during his tenure at Iowa but he's back to consistently lining up as a linebacker now and it suits him well. The Hawkeye product had a whopping 140 tackles during the 2021 season while breaking up six passes and snagging two interceptions. That kind of production would fit in well with the Saints' defense.

Some fans might not love the idea of selecting a linebacker this early on when there are going to be bigger needs but Campbell is a workhorse and would fit perfectly into this defense. Demario Davis and Werner look to be a solid one-two punch but Werner's injuries this summer paired with Zack Baun clearly not being the guy the team hoped he'd be could lead NOLA in this direction.

Fortunately, we're still seven months away from draft weekend so this is more than likely not going to be who the team takes when we get to April.