Welcome to New Orleans, Zack Baun! The Saints moved up in the 3rd round to select the Wisconsin linebacker, and WWL draft guru Mike Detillier shared how great an athlete the 6ft2, 238 pound prospect is.
“He played quarterback in high school and won the Dave Krieg award in Wisconsin. And, he finished third in the Wisconsin 100-meter dash, and he was fourth in the 4x100-meter dash. That tells you he’s one fast dude,” said Detillier. “Last year, he had 12.5 quarterback sacks, 19.5 tackles-for-loss and 76 tackles. He's a guy that you are going to play off and on third down, I don't need him to drop in coverage. Go get the quarterback. Go get him. He is a high-intensity player that has really played well the last couple of seasons. He's a guy that I thought would go much, much higher. You talk about value, they got one here in Zach Baun.”
The Voice of the Saints Zach Strief was impressed with how smart the trade was for New Orleans, since they will probably get a 3rd round pick back.
“The Saints are going to most likely get a third-round compensatory for Teddy Bridgewater,” explained Strief. “So, you've got a team that can trade next year's third and feel like they're going to get it back as a compensatory pick. So, it makes a lot of sense for them.”
“I think they're going to feel like they're getting a player they had much higher on their board," Strief explained. "I would not be surprised to find out later that the Saints have tried to move up even further than this to make this selection. I would imagine that Sean in his press conference is going to be very excited that he was still sitting there at this point.”
New Saints LB Zack Baun needs to play a versatile role at the next level, can't have him at off-ball linebacker for full games. He's too good of a pass-rusher for that.pic.twitter.com/lHLQ47OQoW
— Austin Gayle (@PFF_AustinGayle) April 25, 2020What did the Cajun Cannon think? He couldn’t believe how the draft shook out for the Saints.
“You’re basically getting a late 1st or early 2nd in the third round,” Bobby Hebert happily stated. “I think the Who Dat Nation is going to be ecstatic with this, because we were all talking about linebacker. It’s not Patrick Queen or Kenneth Murray, but it doesn’t matter, Baun wasn’t drafted in this first round. I think he's going to contribute right there with them at the NFL level.”
And, last but not least Saints color analyst Deuce McAllister agreed the pic is great value, but also important, since linebacker was a need.
“You knew they had to do something. That's probably the most important part. Addressing that position. You've got a couple guys that were banged up last year that’ll be back. But, Baun adds to that mix.”
