You have to go back over a decade to find the last time New Orleans Saints didn't pick a lineman in the first round. Chris Olave is the last non-offensive or defensive lineman the Saints have drafted in the first round, but he had to share the round with Trevor Penning the same way Marshon Lattimore shared the distinction with Ryan Ramczyk in 2017.
You have to go all the way back to 2014 when the Saints Brandin Cooks in the first round to find a year where the Saints didn't invest in the trenches in Round 1. Even when they didn't have a first round pick in 2019, they spent their first selection on Erik McCoy.
Saints fans know the drill by this point, and so does ESPN's Field Yates. It's starting to get to the very onset of mock draft season. Yates did a mock draft and had the Saints selecting Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa with the fifth overall pick.
Saints fans may literally throw up if the Saints do this to them
It won't be your first thought but the question has to be asked, "who was on the board?" Wide receiver Jordan Tyson, edge rusher Reuben Bain and safety Caleb Downs were all on the board at the time. Drafting an offensive tackle in the first round would be questionable regardless, and it's even more confusing when you see what players were available.
If the Saints continue their streak of investing in the trenches, it has to be an edge rusher. There's a strong argument that what the Saints need the most anyway. Other than that, there's no reason to go to the trenches. Let alone an offensive tackle.
That would mark the third year in a row the Saints drafted an offensive tackle in the first round. In Yates' hypothetical, 2024 first round pick Taliese Fuaga is moved to guard. That would be his third position in three years. Fuaga moving more than a military kid aside, the allocation of first round picks in the same position repeatedly should disgust Saints fans.
This team is in desperate need of an impact player. There's just too many needs on this team to go back to the offensive line in the first round. You could draft an EDGE, wide receiver, running back, cornerback or safety (Caleb Downs exclusively) in the first round. There will be appropriate players there to pick at those positions when the Saints are on the clock. If it isn't, trade down before picking an offensive tackle. Then again, that's asking the Saints to break two trends.