With plenty of runway left before the 2022 NFL Draft, it's clear that the Saints' season of quarterback and uncertainty and wide receiver struggles has filtered into the early mock draft decisions.
Out of 17 mock drafts surveyed, culled via NFLMockDraftDatabase.com, 88% have the Saints adding either a quarterback or wide receiver in the first round, where New Orleans selects at No. 18.
SAINTS PICKS BY POSITION
- WR: 11
- QB: 4
- CB: 1
- OT: 1
SAINTS PICKS BY PLAYER
- Jameson Williams, WR, Alabama (5)
- Matt Corral, QB, Ole Miss (2)
- Drake London, WR, USC (2)
- Treylon Burks, WR, Arkansas (2)
- Sam Howell, QB, N. Carolina
- Desmond Ridder, QB, Cincinnati
- Chris Olave, WR, Cincinnati
- Garrett Wilson, WR, Ohio State
- Ahmad Gardner, CB, Cincinnati
- Trevor Penning, OT, N. Iowa
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Those picks still skew heavily to the WR end, making it clear that's where many think the Saints will look to bulk up on pass-catching weapons. The most popular target is Alabama WR, with mock drafters undeterred by his ACL injury in the national championship loss to Georgia. The most popular QB pick was Matt Corral of Ole Miss, but a handful of other QB names emerged as interesting potential options if that's where the Saints look for their next franchise quarterback.
LSU football was also represented in all 17 mocks, with star cornerback Derek Stingley a popular target to the Jets at No. 4, or even at No. 10 if he falls that far, with the Jets owning both picks. Stingley landed at No. 4 or 10 in 10 of the 17 mock drafts. Just one other Tigers player, linebacker Damone Clark, appeared in any of the first-round mocks surveyed, landing at No. 22 to the Raiders, but falling out of the first round in the 16 others.
If the Saints did draft a wide receiver, it'd be the first time they pulled the trigger at that position in the first round since selecting Brandin Cooks out of Oregon in 2014.
Scroll below for the rundown of the mock drafts surveyed.
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NFLMockDraftDatabase.com (consensus)
- Saints, No. 18: Chris Olave, WR, Ohio State
- LSU: No. 4, Jets, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
CBS (Josh Edwards)
- Saints, No. 18: Matt Corral, QB, Ole Miss
- LSU: No. 3, Texans, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
CBS (Chris Trapasso)
- Saints, No. 18: Chris Olave, WR, Ohio State
- LSU: No. 10, Jets, Derek Stingley, Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
CBS (Ryan Wilson)
- Saints, No. 18: Jameson Williams, WR, Alabama
- LSU: No. 8, Falcons, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
CBS (Kyle Stackpole)
- Saints, No. 18: Jameson Williams, WR, Alabama
- LSU: No. 4, Jets, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
PRO FOOTBALL NETWORK (Tyler Olson)
- Saints, No. 18: Drake London, WR, USC
- LSU: No. 12, Vikings, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
Related
━━━━
PRO FOOTBALL NETWORK (Cam Mellor)
- Saints, No. 18: Drake London, WR, USC
- LSU: No. 4, Jets, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
PRO FOOTBALL NETWORK (James Fragoza)
- Saints, No. 18: Matt Corral, QB, Ole Miss
- LSU: No. 4, Jets, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
DRAFTTEK
- Saints, No. 18: Sam Howell, QB, N. Carolina
- LSU: No. 7, Giants, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
WALTER FOOTBALL (Walter Cherepinsky)
- Saints, No. 18: Treylon Burks, WR, Arkansas
- LSU: No. 10, Jets, Derek Stingley Jr., CB; No. 22, Raiders, Damone Clark, LB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
TANKATHON
- Saints, No. 18: Jameson Williams, WR, Alabama
- LSU: No. 4, Jets, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
SPORTING NEWS (Vinnie Iyer)
- Saints: Jameson Williams, WR, Alabama
- LSU: No. 4, Jets, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
DRAFTKINGS
- Saints, No. 18: Ahmad Gardner, CB, Cincinnati
- LSU: No. 4, Jets, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
Related
━━━━
PRO FOOTBALL FOCUS (Austin Gayle)
- Saints, No. 18: Desmond Ridder, QB, Cincinnati
- LSU: No. 4, Jets, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (Zach Patraw)
- Saints, No. 18: Trevor Penning, OT, Northern Iowa
- LSU: No. 10, Cardinals, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
THE DRAFT NETWORK (Kyle Crabbs)
- Saints, No. 18: Jameson Williams, WR, Alabama
- LSU: No. 3, Texans, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
━━━━
DRAFTWIRE (Luke Easterling)
- Saints, No. 18: Treylon Burks, WR, Arkansas
- LSU: No. 4, Jets, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full
━━━━
ATHLON SPORTS (Bryan Fischer)
- Saints, No. 18: Garrett Wilson, WR, Ohio State
- LSU: No. 8, Falcons, Derek Stingley Jr., CB
Link: Full mock
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