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This isn't what you'd like to see. Every year, NFL analyst Rene Bugner collects dozens of draft grades for a team-by-team grade point average to see how draft experts feel about every squad's haul -- and after the 2025 NFL draft, the New Orleans Saints ranked fifth-worst, clocking in at No. 28 out of the league's 32 teams. With a GPA of 2.44, that slots them in between the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings. They say C's get degrees, but you'd like to aim a little higher than that.
So why are experts so down on the Saints? None of the 24 experts who Bugner sampled from gave New Orleans anything better than a B-plus, but two outlets stand out with negative marks of D+ and D, respectively. Here's what they had to say to justify that negative reception.
Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox, who graded the class a D+, felt the Saints reached on too many early picks, including their first-round choice Kelvin Banks Jr. Knox pointed to Banks' relatively-low ranking on B/R's final big board at No. 33 overall as evidence of this being a panic pick, saying this was a reactionary move to past misses at offensive tackle and quoting his peer Brent Sobleski as writing, "Trevor Penning still isn't an NFL-caliber pass-blocker. Taliese Fuaga never should have been moved to left tackle. Banks isn’t necessarily a tailor-made left tackle despite playing the position in college. Questions remain about whether he can stay on an island and remain effective."
That's a hot take considering Fuaga was picked as the NFL's best rookie tackle after moving to the left side, so clearly Knox and Co. aren't following the consensus opinion by being so low on the Banks pick. But Knox dinged the Saints were overdrafting quarterback Tyler Shough in Round 2, too: "Unfortunately, the Saints didn't do the best job of maximizing value early in the draft, and it's fair to wonder if taking Shough over quarterbacks like Shedeur Sanders and Jalen Milroe was a massive mistake." Sanders of course fell to Round 5 and Milroe wasn't drafted until the end of Round 3, so that's another big disconnect in how the Saints (and other teams) valued these quarterbacks against Bleacher Report's in-house rankings.
You'll find agreement from Vinnie Iyer at the Sporting News, though, at least as far the quarterbacks are concerned. Iyer graded the Saints draft class with a D and, while he didn't have a problem with the Banks pick, said that "Taking Shough for Kellen Moore as the third QB off the board was a crazy pass on Shedeur Sanders." Agree or disagree with that opinion if you want, but the NFL showed you how it felt about Sanders by letting him fall to the Cleveland Browns three rounds after the Saints took Shough. Iyer made a better point by commenting, "The lack of an edge rusher, wide receiver, or a cornerback from those loaded classes is a definiting whiff." The Saints needed help at all three spots but waiting until the draft's final round to add a pass rusher, and fourth-round cornerback Quincy Riley faces a lot of competition for the starting job. None of the receivers they signed as rookie free agents are likely to make the roster.
It's true the Saints didn't address all of their needs in this draft. We were in agreement with the critics that drafting Shough so soon was a mistake, and the Saints probably could have gotten him a round later while addressing one of those more-obvious needs sooner. But was it really a bottom-five draft class? That feels like a reach, but these experts would tell you some of the Saints' picks felt like reaches, too. Time will tell if the Saints got it right, but as Knox added for Bleacher Report, "New Orleans may need to prove a lot of people wrong for its draft to be considered a big win."
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: 2025 NFL draft: Experts grade Saints' haul bottom-five in the league
Continue reading...
So why are experts so down on the Saints? None of the 24 experts who Bugner sampled from gave New Orleans anything better than a B-plus, but two outlets stand out with negative marks of D+ and D, respectively. Here's what they had to say to justify that negative reception.
Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox, who graded the class a D+, felt the Saints reached on too many early picks, including their first-round choice Kelvin Banks Jr. Knox pointed to Banks' relatively-low ranking on B/R's final big board at No. 33 overall as evidence of this being a panic pick, saying this was a reactionary move to past misses at offensive tackle and quoting his peer Brent Sobleski as writing, "Trevor Penning still isn't an NFL-caliber pass-blocker. Taliese Fuaga never should have been moved to left tackle. Banks isn’t necessarily a tailor-made left tackle despite playing the position in college. Questions remain about whether he can stay on an island and remain effective."
That's a hot take considering Fuaga was picked as the NFL's best rookie tackle after moving to the left side, so clearly Knox and Co. aren't following the consensus opinion by being so low on the Banks pick. But Knox dinged the Saints were overdrafting quarterback Tyler Shough in Round 2, too: "Unfortunately, the Saints didn't do the best job of maximizing value early in the draft, and it's fair to wonder if taking Shough over quarterbacks like Shedeur Sanders and Jalen Milroe was a massive mistake." Sanders of course fell to Round 5 and Milroe wasn't drafted until the end of Round 3, so that's another big disconnect in how the Saints (and other teams) valued these quarterbacks against Bleacher Report's in-house rankings.
You'll find agreement from Vinnie Iyer at the Sporting News, though, at least as far the quarterbacks are concerned. Iyer graded the Saints draft class with a D and, while he didn't have a problem with the Banks pick, said that "Taking Shough for Kellen Moore as the third QB off the board was a crazy pass on Shedeur Sanders." Agree or disagree with that opinion if you want, but the NFL showed you how it felt about Sanders by letting him fall to the Cleveland Browns three rounds after the Saints took Shough. Iyer made a better point by commenting, "The lack of an edge rusher, wide receiver, or a cornerback from those loaded classes is a definiting whiff." The Saints needed help at all three spots but waiting until the draft's final round to add a pass rusher, and fourth-round cornerback Quincy Riley faces a lot of competition for the starting job. None of the receivers they signed as rookie free agents are likely to make the roster.
It's true the Saints didn't address all of their needs in this draft. We were in agreement with the critics that drafting Shough so soon was a mistake, and the Saints probably could have gotten him a round later while addressing one of those more-obvious needs sooner. But was it really a bottom-five draft class? That feels like a reach, but these experts would tell you some of the Saints' picks felt like reaches, too. Time will tell if the Saints got it right, but as Knox added for Bleacher Report, "New Orleans may need to prove a lot of people wrong for its draft to be considered a big win."
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: 2025 NFL draft: Experts grade Saints' haul bottom-five in the league
Continue reading...
