New Orleans Saints · 2026 Draft · Pick #8 · (6-11)

Actual Pick: Jordyn Tyson (WR, Arizona State) SOLID Buy Jersey

Solid. New Orleans grabs the cleanest separator in this receiver class and finally gives whoever wins the QB room a real intermediate target who attacks leverage between the numbers. Jordyn Tyson led the Big 12 in receiving last year, ran a sub-4.5 at his pro day, and his contested-catch tape against Kansas State and Iowa State is the most pro-ready release package outside of the top tier. Saints needed juice; they got a Day-1 starter opposite Chris Olave. Fit is clean but not perfect — the Saints' WR room behind Olave is a Rashid Shaheed deep-only role and a fading Cedrick Wilson, so Tyson immediately solves the slot/big-X hybrid Klint Kubiak's offense was bleeding from. Cap is tight (Derek Carr's restructure ate flexibility), so a rookie-scale WR is the right shape of asset. The complaint: Edge and CB were screaming louder, and Tyson doesn't fix the Cam Jordan succession plan or the boundary corner snaps Marshon Lattimore vacated. No trade — Saints sat at 8 and took the player. Rookie-contract value at slot 8 for a borderline top-15 receiver grade is fair but not a windfall; the opportunity cost is real because Mike Green, Shemar Stewart, and Will Johnson were all on the board and addressed louder roster holes. Picking the second receiver inside the top ten when Edge talent was stacked is a luxury bet on Tyson's separation translating, not the highest-EV move with the capital. Our board had Tyson at WR3 in the class behind Travis Hunter and Tetairoa McMillan, slotted in the 15-25 range, so #8 is roughly a 7-to-15 pick reach depending on which consensus board you trust — Jeremiah had him 17, PFF had him 19, Kiper had him 14. Call it a half-round reach in raw value, mitigated because the positional drop-off after Tyson at receiver is steep and Saints would not have gotten this caliber separator at #40. This pick says New Orleans is finally admitting the Carr-or-bust offense needs weapons before it needs another defensive piece, and that Mickey Loomis trusts his receiver evaluation over the louder edge-rusher value on the board. Next move has to be Edge at 40 — Princely Umanwoke or Landon Jackson — or this draft tilts unbalanced. Front office earned cautious trust: the player is good, the process is debatable, and the floor on Tyson is higher than the upside on a reach Edge would have been.

Why different: Caleb Downs went #2 to the Jets as projected backup, so Saints pivoted from best-available safety to highest-graded receiver still on the board with Olave's running mate vacancy unresolved.

Actual Pick: Christen Miller (IDL, Georgia) REACH Buy Jersey

Reach. The Saints used premium Day-2 capital on a rotational interior body when this roster is screaming for an edge bender and a perimeter receiver, and Christen Miller doesn't move the needle on either crisis. Miller's a stout two-gap run plugger out of Kirby Smart's rotation, but he was a part-time starter in Athens with pedestrian pass-rush production. Taking him over Keldric Faulk, Princely Umanmielen, or any of the available WR2s feels like Mickey Loomis chasing comfort food. The fit is fine on paper and ugly in context. Miller slots behind Bryan Bresee and next to Nathan Shepherd as a run-down 3-tech, which addresses the DL line on the needs sheet but the FOURTH item on it. Carl Granderson is the only credible edge rusher under contract, Chris Olave needs a real WR2, and the cornerback room behind Marshon Lattimore is held together with tape. Spending #42 on a rotational interior rusher when those three rooms are bare is roster malpractice. No trade reported, so this is straight slot value, and #42 is exactly where you're supposed to land a starter — not a rotational piece. The opportunity cost is brutal: Faulk was sitting right there as a true edge/big-DE hybrid who literally backfills the Cam Jordan vacancy, and receivers like Jalen Royals or Tre Harris would've given Derek Carr a pulse. On a cap-strapped roster, you cannot whiff on rookie-contract starters at #42. Our board had Miller as a comfortable Day 3 grade, and the broader consensus was a Round 3 to early Round 4 player — Jeremiah didn't have him in his top 100, PFF graded him outside the top 110, and Kiper's positional rank had him as the IDL10–12 range. Saints took him 30-plus slots above market. That's not "trusting your evaluation," that's reaching for a Georgia logo and hoping Smart's culture papers over the production gap. This pick screams scared front office. Loomis and Dennis Allen are reaching for safe, stocky, locker-room-clean Georgia tape instead of swinging at the actual roster holes, and that's how you stay 9-8 forever. They need to come back in Round 3 and absolutely hammer edge or wide receiver — Bralen Trice, Jaylin Smith, Jalen Royals — or this draft is cooked. Tonight, the front office did not earn trust; they spent #42 on a backup.

Why different: We had Faulk filling the long-vacant Cam Jordan edge role; the Saints instead doubled down on the interior with a UGA familiarity pick that ignored their bigger holes at edge, WR, and CB.

Actual Pick: Oscar Delp (TE, Georgia) REACH Buy Jersey

Reach. Oscar Delp at #73 is a luxury pick from a Saints front office that just ignored five glaring holes to draft a developmental TE behind Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau. Delp is a fine SEC blocker with reliable hands, but he caught only 38 passes in his Georgia career and was clearly the second option behind Brock Bowers and then Lawson Luckie. Day 2 capital should not be spent on a TE3 in a room that already has two paid bodies. The fit is genuinely puzzling. New Orleans needs a perimeter weapon for Spencer Rattler (or whoever), edge depth opposite Carl Granderson, and corner help with Marshon Lattimore aging out of his prime — Delp addresses none of it. Klint Kubiak does run heavy 12-personnel from his Vikings/Niners lineage, so there's a schematic argument for an in-line Y, but the Saints already paid Moreau $12M guaranteed and Johnson is on a two-year extension. This is a want, not a need. No trade reported, so this is straight rookie-contract value at slot 73 — roughly $5.6M over four years, which isn't catastrophic. The opportunity cost is the killer: Jaylin Noel, Jalen Royals, Princely Umanmielen, and Shavon Revel were all reportedly still available in this range per consensus boards. Picking Delp over a plug-and-play WR2 or a rotational edge for a roster with a closing championship window (zero, frankly) is the kind of decision that gets a GM fired. Our board didn't have a consensus projection for #73, but Delp was widely tagged as a late-Day 3 prospect — Jeremiah had him outside his top 150, PFF graded him as the TE12 in the class, and Kiper slotted him in the 5th-round bucket. Going at 73 is a full two-round reach, roughly 60-70 spots ahead of market. Even the TE-friendliest evaluators (Brugler) had him in the 4th. There is no public board where this is market-rate. The pick screams "Mickey Loomis still drafting like the cap is fake," which it functionally is in New Orleans — they're managing dead money, not building a contender. They need to spend the rest of this draft hammering WR and edge, full stop. Take Umanmielen or Bralen Trice next, then a corner Day 3. The front office did not earn trust tonight; this is the same positional-luxury thinking that got Foster Moreau paid in the first place. Bad process, bad slot, bad pick.

Actual Pick: Jeremiah Wright (, ) SURPRISE Buy Jersey

Meh. Jeremiah Wright (?, —) wasn't on our top-145 big board, which means the New Orleans Saints are betting on something specific that didn't show up in the consensus film grades. The New Orleans Saints acquired this pick via trade (From SEA). Day-3 picks are won and lost on traits-and-fit calls like this — if the team's scouting department saw a special-teams role, a developmental skill, or an injury-discount, that's defensible. We don't have a board grade to anchor a verdict so we're rating this neutral and waiting for training-camp tape.

Actual Pick: Bryce Lance (WR, North Dakota State) STEAL Buy Jersey

Steal. Bryce Lance (WR, North Dakota State) was on our top-145 board in the R3-R4 range — and the New Orleans Saints got him in Round 5. On Day 3 that's how you build a roster: value compounds quietly across the back half of the draft, and this is the kind of selection that becomes a starter in two years because the team didn't reach for him in Round 2.

Actual Pick: Lorenzo Styles Jr. (, ) SURPRISE Buy Jersey

Meh. Lorenzo Styles Jr. (?, —) wasn't on our top-145 big board, which means the New Orleans Saints are betting on something specific that didn't show up in the consensus film grades. The New Orleans Saints acquired this pick via trade (From SEA). Day-3 picks are won and lost on traits-and-fit calls like this — if the team's scouting department saw a special-teams role, a developmental skill, or an injury-discount, that's defensible. We don't have a board grade to anchor a verdict so we're rating this neutral and waiting for training-camp tape.

Actual Pick: Barion Brown (, ) SURPRISE Buy Jersey

Meh. Barion Brown (?, —) wasn't on our top-145 big board, which means the New Orleans Saints are betting on something specific that didn't show up in the consensus film grades. Day-3 picks are won and lost on traits-and-fit calls like this — if the team's scouting department saw a special-teams role, a developmental skill, or an injury-discount, that's defensible. We don't have a board grade to anchor a verdict so we're rating this neutral and waiting for training-camp tape.

Actual Pick: TJ Hall (, ) SURPRISE Buy Jersey

Meh. TJ Hall (?, —) wasn't on our top-145 big board, which means the New Orleans Saints are betting on something specific that didn't show up in the consensus film grades. The New Orleans Saints acquired this pick via trade (From LV). Day-3 picks are won and lost on traits-and-fit calls like this — if the team's scouting department saw a special-teams role, a developmental skill, or an injury-discount, that's defensible. We don't have a board grade to anchor a verdict so we're rating this neutral and waiting for training-camp tape.