The New Orleans Saints doubled down on the defensive line in Round 2 of the NFL Draft, and the reaction at the WWL roundtable was a bit more balanced.
Less than 24 hours after blasting the Bryan Bresee pick, the Cajun Cannon Bobby Hebert was climbing onboard the train for Notre Dame standout Isaiah Foskey.
Deuce Mcallister summed it up best: "Foskey is a good pick for them," he said, "and I’m not surprised that it’s a defensive end either. … You look at what you lost, and the question was always going to be: Would it be D-end first, or would it be defensive tackle first? And it kind of flipped, it was defensive tackle first."
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But Hebert did make sure to point out a few things, because the feeling of having such a significant need at DE sure feels like an indictment on a pick from the not-so-distant past.
"I know you need guys in the rotation, but I look at this also because they don’t trust Payton Turner," he said. "They want Payton Turner to work out, but they’ve got to move on if he doesn’t work out. Isn’t that the case? They want him to answer the bell game in and game out, considering where we drafted him, and you’ve got guys in the rotation.”
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It's a fair criticism of a past first round pick who has yet to make much of an impact in his first two seasons, though with some freed up runway ahead of him after the departure of Marcus Davenport in free agency. Turner, the No. 28 overall pick in 2021, has appeared in just 13 games over two seasons and logged 28 tackles and 3 sacks.
The rest of the panel, which included Mike Detillier and Mike Hoss, didn't necessarily agree with the total assessment, but they did share the optimism for Foskey, who enters the NFL as Notre Dame's program record holder for sacks with 26.5, and also forced 7 fumbles during his college career.
"Good football player, I’m telling you, productive and guy that’s got what I call backside speed to chase you down," Detillier said. "He does a really good job of it, and he's technically sound.”
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But if the Saints can double down, so can Bobby (who was a vocal advocate for Notre Dame TE Michael Mayer at 29):
“There’s not much different late first round, 40th pick. He’ll have a bigger impact than Bresee. … I’m just saying this upcoming season," Hebert continues, "I think the Who Dat nation will recognize him more on his impact with the team initially.”
The Saints finished off Day 2 with the selection of TCU running back Kendre Miller at No. 71, and heads into the final day with five more selections (115, 146, 165, 227 and 257). Coverage for the draft's final day kicks off at 9 a.m. on WWL and runs through the post-draft press conference.
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