The New Orleans Saints had a bad season in 2024, only winning five games and not looking anywhere close to being a playoff contender. Unfortunately, despite how bad the team was, they're barely drafting in the top 10, holding the ninth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Considering that there are only two quarterbacks worth taking in the top 10 and the Saints have the ninth pick, it's doubtful they'll be able to land either guy. That's not how one mock draft released this week sees it though, as that draft expert thinks the Saints will be able to land a quarterback without even having to trade up.
Saints manage to snag franchise QB in NFL mock draft roundup
CBS Sports: Shedeur Sanders, QB (Colorado)
Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports thinks that not only will the Saints land Shedeur Sanders in the first round but that they won't have to part ways with any draft capital to do so. There's no doubt that new head coach Kellen Moore would love to have Sanders on his offense but the bigger question is how realistic this actually is.
Considering the Browns, Giants, Raiders, and Jets are all drafting ahead of the Saints, it feels unlikely that Sanders would fall this far. Even if he did, another quarterback-needy team like the Steelers can't be ruled out to make a move up to grab him. If Sanders does somehow fall to the ninth pick, the Saints would likely sprint to the podium to hand in their draft card.
Grade: A
NFL.com: Jihaad Campbell, LB (Alabama)
Lance Zierlein of NFL.com actually has Shedeur Sanders plummeting further than ninth overall, as he has him falling all the way to the 24th pick (where the Browns move back into the first round to snag him). This feels incredibly unrealistic, especially considering that he has the Saints passing on Sanders to take Jihaad Campbell.
No disrespect to Campbell, he's an excellent linebacker and would give the Saints' linebacker corps some much-needed juice on that side of the ball. That being said, it's hard to imagine the Saints passing on Sanders if he was available, so this pick would probably get criticized.
Grade: C
ESPN: Shemar Stewart, EDGE (Texas A&M)
Field Yates of ESPN also has the Saints sticking with a defensive player and has them bolstering the pass rush with the addition of Shemar Stewart. This selection would likely scare Saints fans given how poorly they've done with their first-round pass-rush picks in recent years but Yates connected these two because he thinks the Saints are the right team to get what they need out of Stewart.
That being said, Stewart hasn't had more than 1.5 sacks in any of his three collegiate seasons. While there's more to a player than the stats they put up, that's all we really have to go off of when we don't know a player as well so this feels like a risky pick for New Orleans.
Grade: C-