It was an eventful Day 2 of the NFL Draft for Saints and LSU fans. The Saints traded up -- surprise, surpsie -- to select center Erik McCoy from Texas A&M while former Tigers star cornerback Greedy Williams was taken by the Cleveland Browns. Both picks happend within minutes of each other.
The Williams selection was first, and was preceeded by an unexpected tumble for the highly-touted player. Williams was a late-first or early-second round selection in most mock drafts but there were five cornerbacks taken ahead of him in the second round alone. Eventually, the Browns took Williams with the 14th pick in the second round.
WWL draft analyst Mike Detillier said bad advice, and poor decisions in the offseason contributed to Williams' fall.
"I think he's the best cover cornerback in this draft class, but he got humbled," Detillier said. "In essense he didn't win the offseason. He won it on the field but he didn't figure out, and his team didn't figure out, how to put him in the right spot and that affected him."
One possible cause for concern among teams was Williams' unwillingness to hold private workouts, and take visits, to franchises interested in drafting him.
"He made zero visits to NFL teams," Detillier pointed out. "His advisors should have told him to take those visits."
While most local observers were still analyzing the Williams selection the Saints decided to make a move up in the draft. They traded three picks -- picks 62 and 202 in this year's draft, and a second rounder in 2020 -- to the Miami Dolphins to move up to pick #48. The Saints also got a fourth round pick in return.
Earlier in the day Detillier had predicted the only player the Saints would trade up for was Erik McCoy, a center from Texas A&M. Well, that prediction was prophetic as that's exactly what New Orleans did when they announced the selection of McCoy.
"He's got a chacne to be an upper-level center in this league. Three year starter. Such a smart guy. Great pass protector. Really good run blocker," Detillier said in describing McCoy's upside. "I love this selection and it gets you back in round four where I think the meat and potatos of this draft is."
Also impressed by the choice to draft McCoy was former Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert, who said earlier in the night on WWL Radio that anybody who didn't like the pick was an "idiot." Hebert explained:
"What I mean by idiot is that you fans usually tend follow the football and you don't appreciate the trenches. I look at the offensive and defensive lines, if we're winning in the trenches on the offensive and defensive lines you're winning 10 games."
Hebert went on to call this pick a "slam dunk" that sets up the Saints to draft at the skill positions in later rounds.
The Cajun Cannon also took the chance to weigh in on yet another LSU Tiger heading north to play for the Browns. Williams joins former Tiger wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvin Landry in Cleveland, something that Hebert thinks should make LSU fans want to root for the traditionally inept franchise.
"You can have a second favorite team. How can you be against the Browns? The Dog Pound, blue collar. I mean, yeah, cheer for the Saints in the NFC (but) yeah you can cheer for the Browns. And look, c'mon. Landry, Odell Beckham and now Greedy!"
While the Saints only had one pick in the first two days of the draft, they currently have five picks in rounds 4-7. The NFL Draft continues at 11:00 a.m. CT on Saturday.
Watch full reaction from Detillier and Hebert in the video below, or by clicking here.