Saints pass defense could be reshaped with 1 player (and it's not who you think)

Caleb Downs is without a doubt the fan favorite pick for the New Orleans Saints in the first round. Don’t sleep on Mansoor Delane, however, as another option to elevate the Saints pass defense. While the Ohio State safety can step right into the void left by Alontae Taylor, picking Delane would require a little shuffling in the cornerback room. He has the talent to make it well worth it. 

There’s two major questions when it comes to Downs in the first round. Will he be available when the Saints pick and how high can you draft a safety? The former could apply to Delane as well, but positional value isn’t a conversation in relation to Delane. 

Cornerback is one of the premier positions in football, and Delane is arguably the best in this class. He isn’t the first player on the brain, but Delane should be on the shortlist of options at 8. Lockdown corners aren't easy to find and can change the entire landscape of a defense. Delane has lockdown potential.

Mansoor Delane gives the Saints a potential shutdown corner who checks two boxes for the defense

The Saints don’t have a shutdown corner at the moment. New Orleans is set to go into 2026 with Kool-Aid McKinstry and Quincy Riley. They’re both promising young players with bright futures. 

Neither has played to the point to saying you can’t draft a corner this high. They’ve played well enough to keep it from being a need but not at a high enough level to remove it from consideration completely. Best case scenario is Delane is what you expect out of a top-10 cornerback and McKinstry grows and finds more consistency over the course of a full season. 

Riley wouldn’t be the odd man out either. Riley would likely slide into the STAR role vacated by Taylor. It's a role that was always on the table for Riley and one he was open to last year. He's played in the slot in college, so the experience is there. Additionally, Riley showed an aggressiveness and physicality last season that showed he could be valuable on the inside.

In theory, drafting Delane kills two birds with one stone. The Saints get a true number one corner and solve their issue in the slot. It does require two players to workout, but the entire secondary is in prove it mode anyway.