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That's Hardhide. Whiskies.com. It's time for another Kevin Mokdraft. Let's see if this Mokdraft can hold up and not fall completely apart.
Buy 1130 on Monday when free agency opens. It'll be fun. Thomas, hit that intro. Welcome to Saints Happy Hour podcast.
We always have a source. Dave remains quiet because he continues to search for shit that he can't find. Wouldn't know what the Fraid of say. Yeah, try to get saved by Nolafredo.
That's a great strategy. Now grab a drink and enjoy the show. No! Right everybody.
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Become a patron. Sign up for all our free content. Stay in touch with us. Breaking news is going to happen with free agency all this week.
You want to be a patron. I promise it'll be worth your money. All right. So behind the scenes a little bit, me and Kevin, we're talking about like for the YouTube episode this week.
I'll leave a comment by the way that helps us and it doesn't cost you anything. Subscribe to the channel. Me and Kevin, we were talking like, what kind of show should we do? Because free agency starts on Monday, right?
And people are going to watch this and we don't want it to become like totally worthless by like 1130 because the Saints did crazy stuff or whatever. Maybe they do a trade over the weekend and it's totally worthless and it goes bad like milk in the sun. So I issued you a challenge. I said, Kevin, I want you to do a mock draft and I want you to try to think of it as include what you think the Saints will do in free agency on Monday in the next couple of days and build your draft around that and you're and will judge it as a success or failure.
When we look back on it like Tuesday, Wednesday, and say, hey, did Kevin guess right about free agency and his draft looks pretty good because the Saints fill these other holes in free agency and now they're going to fill these holes in the draft. So how did you feel about this mock draft before we get into it, Kevin? I get the mock draft before the cam Jordan news hit. Oh Lord.
But here's the funny thing. My entire mock draft still works. My draft still works. Yeah, I don't think like the cam Jordan, I don't think the cam Jordan news affects like if he's staying they can still draft an end like he's 30.
He's in his 30s. Cam Jordan whether he ends up staying with the Saints because the actual deadline for free agents to sign with the Saints that are still in the team with the four years, it's three o'clock Wednesday like the same I still do a deal with him and like 250 on Wednesday could all be Kumbaya. He could come back. I would say that's not likely but it still could happen.
So that's an issue and if Kim Jordan comes back like he's old man, they still need to end, you know, like, so I mean I don't necessarily think that's a that's a big deal. So the other Saints news that happened was Camara redid his contract with a rule that's being honest. 90% of Saint fans didn't know existed. They converted his base salary to signing bonus but the Saints don't pay him the signing bonus now because his 2027 contract is less in value than his 2026 contract.
So it can be a quote unquote in quotes signing bonus that the Saints will pay eventually sometime in the summer or during the year. So basically it just means they could trade Camara or if Camara decides he wants to retire the Saints get the cap space now something to monitor but it made me really happy because it means the Saints and Mickey Lewis and Kyle Harlier back on their bullshit with the cap. They're doing stuff that I didn't know it was possible. We are back.
We are back. As you have a cap room do they have now? They have 19 million dollars of cap space which in Loomis books that's four trillion. So that's a little housekeeping but let's get to this.
As a cap is not real kids. The cap is not the cap is not real. The cap only stops you from doing everything you want. It never stops you from doing something you want to do.
So listen the Saints 19 million dollars they can go out and be big big big big spenders on Monday. So let's look at this mock draft. What did you do to start at eight? What did you do?
All right. Hang on man. I got allergies. Oh yeah.
Sorry. I thought I had a third one in there. Yeah. My aura ring tells me I have pre allergy symptoms.
Whoa. Yeah. And aura ring. Yeah.
What you guy, Gardner? Um okay. All right. So.
Mock draft time. I get to pick eight and ring ring ring. Uh oh. Our good friends in Houston decided to give me a call.
Oh. They gave me pick 26 or I'm sorry. Pick 28. Pick 38.
Pick 59 and pick 69. Holy nice. In exchange for my pick eight and 73. What did they pick at eight?
I actually have that. At pick eight they ended up grabbing sunny styles at linebacker. I'm not gonna lie. Like I love this trade because the Saints need volume and they need the picks and this is gonna be fun.
I love. Jeremiah love was off the board. Okay. That was David Bailey board.
Montsoil Delane was off the board. So I was just like do I do I grab sunny styles or Caleb Downs or do I go back a few spots or go back further and get more here for a hundred. Listen if the Saints traded away Jeremiah love and didn't do something big in free agency at running back Saints Twitter my burn airline drive to the ground. My only concern with this one this trade I think look the Saints need bodies.
They need to build out the guts of the roster but I'm just convinced that sunny styles is the safest player in this draft. Like his rascal is historic. His tape is awesome and his name sunny styles. He just sounds like a good to great defensive player.
So like I would feel like if the Saints ended up taking him at eight I would feel great about it because it feels very he's not gonna bust. Like he's gonna be a really good player but you got four pick you got you got one two three four you got three more picks in the top 75 like you can't say no to that. No so what I ended up doing was with the first pick that Saints had well before we get to before you get to the first pick is how did you base this in free agency and what you thought they would do. Oh no good good good good thank you for interrupting on that I appreciate that.
I figured that the Saints would get a wide receiver and they would get a guard yeah they would go all offense. Okay I like that that's that's hard. That's the guard and wide receiver. That's very reasonable I think.
Very so first pick edge defender out of Clemson TJ Parker. He is a 23rd on the PFF big board. He's the third highest rated defensive and overall. Yeah rivals.com 24-7 sports.
Did you say to pick a lot of defensive ends? Yeah in this range of like first early second. Did you get the shakes? Did you have Peyton Turner, Foskey, Flashwick?
Did you get the shakes turning this card in? No because I just looked at it like well but honestly I went into this thinking Cam Jordan is going to retire the following year one sure that I was was unaware that he was going to possibly be leaving but I think he'd be retiring at the end of 2026-27. Yeah so let's get his let's try and find his successor now and let's try and find the guy who's going to do it who could possibly do it from the rip. Like if I'm investing a first round pick obviously this means this guy we need to put this guy in he's got to see significant playing time and the stuff that I had read about him made me think okay yeah we can do the job.
It's a concern though you got Foskey you got Peyton Turner you got Davenport like the Saints haven't picked a good defensive end there was like a home run pick since Hendrix since T-Rex and he only gave him one good year but to your point they need an end so I like this so now you have tremendous flexibility in round two because you have to pick 38 and you have to pick 42 but since you're picking and then you're picking four picks again who did you feel like you had to take at 38 that you were worried wasn't going to be there when the Saints would make their own pick at 42. It wasn't so much that I thought of oh I got to get this guy at 38 because he might not be there at 42 it was there's so much like other stuff just sitting there in the zone of 38 and 42 that I was just like maybe I take the best guy available like there were you know there was like a couple of corners there the Keith Abney was there R. Mason Thomas the edge guy I mean listen if if a lot of detail or leaves like they think corner becomes pretty freaking important it does ultimately I figured with the Saints grabbing the wide receiver and free agency I'm now willing to take a chance okay I like this in my previous mock draw in almost all of my prior mock drafts I have avoided Chris Bell from Louisville like the plague because he's coming off the ACL yeah however because we've grabbed a wide out in free agency yeah and because bless you and because we're going to need to shake things up and wide receiver anyway I thought okay let's roll the dice here and get Chris Bell from Louisville well and here is to your point about trading down trading down it doesn't just give you more volume of players in the sense of the Saints need a bunch of bodies right there Ross are still not as good as we want it to be it gives you more chances to hit on guys but by having more picks you can say hey Chris Bell take your time man you're not ready to know you're not ready till November it's fine because you just traded with the Texas you got two extra top 75 picks you've got the flexibility to build out the roster and like you said you get you get a receiver and free agency you can take Chris Bell red shirt him and you don't catch hell for it like you red shirt at your second round pick at 42 that's crazy you can be like yeah we red shirt him but I had a pick at 38 and I had a pick a 59 and 69 so it was fine so that's another thing that I think people don't necessarily consider when they talk about trading down no s sorry all good stuff and that's my main my main objection to Chris Bell like you can't take Chris Bell at 42 and depend on a dude that's coming off an ACL like if you want to take him and red shirt him cool but if you want to red shirt him you got to do other thing right so pick 42 rolls around normally the guard from Oregon I just had his name pulled up here I just had his name pulled up here Emmanuel Pregnan hopefully I'm pronouncing that right normally he's sitting there and normally and sometimes I might take him because saints obviously need guards however in this scenario that I've concocted that you laid before me I said well they'll sign up they'll sign up a top a top notch guard and free agency did you did you consider the double dip in a sense of sign one draft one where like when you talk about double dipping we talk about drafting the same position twice in the draft but nothing the Saints could double dip but what did you do here well I did double dip here at YFC ever like you saw I got a guard much later in the draft but here I was like I want a big tough guy on on on defense who the stuff on him says he's a big effort guy tackling is tackling needs work but look if if if the Saints defensive for if Brendan Stanley is as good as he seems to be surprised me coach this kid up and we can we can take him from we can take it from good degree also I wanted to grab an LSU kid oh you got to get a fan service for the home I like that correct so I grabbed AJ Holsey he only played one year at LSU he was uh what was that I think the hell was it where was he at first I had just pulled up I've got all these tabs open on my uh on my computer here where are you um cute no what did you say New Mexico I knew it I knew it I knew it oh they got a deep exit I didn't like that you said that LSU and with LSU he ended up being first team all SEC and was an all-american uh played all four years yeah it's like no injury issues I like that say again I like that I like that they're healthy and I just look I think the secondary is I just think the secondary is going to need help is safety priority is safety a significant priority no but I look at this like we can get a guy who could who has the potential to be an absolute dog I like the vibes based off of what I was reading about him we got that Tom get him yeah thank you he's not an undersized guy and the LSU thing look that's the I probably got something we did play for LSU and one thing that that popped into my head with this is you said well safety's not a concern they got sinker they got read but remember last year the Saints they loved sinker and they're like hey we're gonna draft sinker but we're gonna have read and we're gonna have black men and and and and sinkers gonna be our special teams demon right and he's gonna help special teams and it's gonna make special teams and then they're like ah sinker so good he's starting and he can't play special teams and be a starting safety and special teams as we know sucked so like drafting a guy and in the second round and being like hey you could be really important on special teams again not normally cool if you don't have a ton of extra picks but you have a ton of extra picks so picking a guy at safety and having him get up to speed and be great on special teams year one totally fine I like this pick I like this pick a lot I'm liking this draft too much I think I need to start being negative what did you do at pitties got tighter all right we missed out we missed out on Jame Love he was not there at eight his back I love you Jeremiah what did I say you said uh it's not Jame Love yeah james sorry jerema love not there at eight but his back up is there ooh back up jdarian price was there at 59 so I grabbed him now Irish yes that well yeah that's the other thing you know third third highest rated running back in the draft behind jerema love and jonkolman fast explosive just with the Saints need yes he's highly touted there you know the vibes are there with him so I felt comfortable saying or at night comfortable I felt real good about saying hey the Saints are gonna need a running back regardless oh yeah like we need one even if they sign one free agency they're still gonna need one yes because we don't know what cameras is gonna be like next season we really don't yeah kendromiller you know I'm prepared to completely write off we don't know if aldrick s today is gonna be with the team we're gonna go on we're not counting on him right Devin Neal coming off an injury we like him but you know if he flubs here if he's a flub year two we're gonna turn here to it could be a situation where we have to say all right thanks for coming out so no we need we need backup or we need backup starter we need a body ready to throw in ready to throw into it yeah and jdarian price saw a just saw a ton of action where the hell is this there he is no I just had and yeah a ton 11 total touchdowns last season seven a year before that three the year before that he said elevated usage never had he's been split you know he was splitting time with jeremy love but he did and he got enough of a look that the scouts whose reports I like look at seem to think he can be very good he looks so so I'm like all right I'm sold air at 59 so let's go yeah and look the ads explosiveness in the Saints running game didn't get long runs estimate had the longest run and that wasn't until the Tennessee game so that's a problem so it's a fix is a problem I like this draft what you got at 69 69 nice um I went back to defense I looked at the interior and I just I just like you know got chow yeah how long is he really gonna hang around that's right and he was playing less and less as the year went along I know it wasn't because of anything he was doing it was just different things but I think that is like maybe not a red flag but that's a hint that his time's coming but Christian Boyd you know is his backup but if he's not a potential to get guy who can come in there and just take the starting job let's go and do it and let's lock and if we if we can find our starter for the next five six years like serious let's do it so yeah I grabbed big orange oh Dominique orange from Iowa State he is shoot 64 325 he's managed to get you know like he plays he played the all three years that I can see here on PFF yeah uh decent run defense grade which is more what I wanted anyway than the pass rush grade I like to read the Kevin look look they gotta redo that interior you got you've got broughton he played like 20 snaps the saints really I know Staley and the Saints really like him but 20 snaps is 20 snaps shephard was exceptional last year but like that's probably like Nathan shephard's like best year ever and he was just a good solid NFL defensive tackle like you said gotcha he might not be around Brian Bursi we don't know if the Saints are gonna want to pay him right he's been okay as a late round first but we're not even nothing special right yeah so you get you get if you if you are they're right on broughton and they're right on orange suddenly you got your tandem at defensive interior right you got some arms you got yeah you got some you got some options and he added in for this year with shepherd and bursi there suddenly you got a nice you got a nice group in there and listen I know we don't like to talk negative in the offseason and I'm number one on that like I like to be positive but looking at the Saints defense cabin last year they were incredibly healthy like all the Saints injuries happened on offense again the defense was incredibly healthy last year and I just don't think you can depend on that year in and year out so I like the fact that you've added three guys you know I would have really liked a corner because I just I just worry about corner health and it's just one of those things where you get a couple injuries and then you're like oh my god who's playing the nickel this week oh it's a guy that they signed to the practice squad and he was a fifth round pick of the Packers three years ago so my one negative to this draft is I don't like to like a good a good corner in one of these top 100 picks would make me happy but what's next on your agenda I did grab a corner but not in the top 100 so now we are out of the top 100 we go to round four we're only doing two more picks here for the purposes of this pod and I'll tell you the other ones I got okay so pick one 30 pick one 32 I rolled the dice that the guy I wanted at 132 would be there at 137 and guess what he was so I ended up getting what I wanted in back-to-back picks so at 132 I grabbed the center from Kentucky Jogger Burton oh sneaky sneaky good pick totally don't cross my mind until now Eric McCoy injury concerns yes the other good thing about Burton is he has experience playing playing at left guard and right guard so like the joggers a great name for jokes too I like that so when you go to the depth chart on whatever website of your choice he is oh he will show up there as oh if he has to get moved or if he has to play that guard instead you know if he has to pop in a guard I mean great I don't know who the hell they would have it center at that point but let's say Eric McCoy is is healthy for for more than half the season that's right Burton suddenly becomes a valuable backup not only him but an either side of him oh it's dramatic like you now have versatile you now have a player who has versatility on the offensive line and yeah you draft him to be the successor at center but he's a guy who can plug into who it seems to have a plug and play capability listen if he ends up being able to give the Saints average play at center and even like like slightly below average play at guard that's incredibly valuable Fortnare for the Saints by all accounts Kevin I wouldn't say over his entire season with the Saints he was he was fantastic the first month but he kind of tailed off at the end and he was I would say he ended up being a slightly average to above average center he's gonna get paid and free agency like offensive linemen that are average are one of the most valuable commodities now because colleges just don't produce them like they used to and they're hard to find and Jaeger bombs on the offensive line would be just tremendous for me so I'm yeah I gotta figure out I gotta figure out how he uh how he pronounces his name uh yeah Jaeger bomb is what I will call him yeah that's right so the last pick for the purposes of this mock draft here the guy that I'm in yeah pick 137 the guy who was still there not this is put this down check the timestamp this is one of my mid-round potentially late-round sleeper picks I say I say late-round because in in some mock draft machines I've seen this guy go as low you know between 190 and 210 although in PFF he's typically in PFF he's typically here in the 130-140s I think anything outside of the top 100 qualifies as a sleeper so that's Ralph send all your send all your letters and emails and notes to him um Nate Bloorkhertcher tight end from Texas A&M. I think the Saints need a tight end I know I know we're happy with John Johnson right now but with Foster Mirel up in the air we don't know what's going on with Tassum um Jack Stoll got hurt the UCLA guy who knows yeah why not get this guy can he put Kenny Kenny Block and this guy Block so the blocking with him is actually one of the re is actually the main reason yes that I grabbed him because according to PFF PFF has his run block rate at 72.2 which is very high for them um NFL draft buzz calm their blocking grade for him is 67 percent which is high for draft ease I like it like they need the Saints need a they need a guy that could put their hand in the dirt as the coaches would say right so outside of an outside of like a top a top flight tight end that you might be looking at like you know Kenyon Sadeek his blocking depending on who you go to he's going to be considered suspect I've seen Eli Stowers get mentioned as not a good blocker yeah Max Claire has his consig has a good blocking grade whatever gonna not take beat or whatever sue me but if you want Max Claire you got to take him and you would have to take him either at 59 or 69 on this thing because he's not going to be there at pick 80 he just won't be yeah so you either have to invest one of your top picks on tight end or you got to wait until this mid round stuff and try and find that guy that get that that is a blend of things that you can get real good value yeah and listen like this is a guy that I think could be could be a decent tight end for somebody if he's got the blocking and if he can make some catches like this this strikes me as a guy who he can wind up with like oh 25 catches 500 yards three three touchdowns to keep hitting my own plate three touchdowns but his reel the reel bread and butter is going to be you'll see him on these big pass plays and these big runs where he'll be a guy making a block yeah and listen to saints they stunk in short yardage they stunk in short yardage and I think part of it was the interior stunk the interior guards can't they run blocking was terrible but I also think it tight ends couldn't block and Boston Marot never really got back to what he was as like a dependable blocking tough tight end that injury like he just never got back to what he was um I my thing to Kevin is these tight ends like Tyler Higbee for the Rams he's been playing like 11 years he got four million he got two years like four million dollars a year and you say well that's not that much but he's been playing for 11 years like if you want to go in free agency and get like a sturdy 15 catch 20 catch tight end that but he's mostly there for blocking if re-agency those cost you like seven million dollars now so like if you can get a guy who like by year two is like a dependable 20 catch we can play him in 12 personnel tight end that's incredibly valuable it's not it's not like the sexiest thing in the draft but again the thing that I love when you do these mock dresses one you're awesomely prepared and I say that go to other saints podcast nobody knows as many of these players as Kevin does because Kevin does thousands of mock dress but the other thing I really like about this is as you go through it makes us realize oh yeah this Saint's roster it's it's really it has a ton of holes and I think the shock revelation and the fact that we got a quarterback it's awesome and it makes us feel so good it's like thank god we've got a quarterback and it gives you a fight and chance and he's obviously a little crazy it makes everybody super excited about the saints and that's real I believe in Tyler shock but when we go these mock drafts Kevin it reminds me oh yeah they drafted horrible for like five years they got a lot of work and they need a lot of bodies yeah and I looked at the final three picks I can saw DJ Campbell the guard out of Texas and in the you know 2026 NFL draft name hall of fame at pick 189 I grabbed linebacker Red Murdock from that sounds like a villain from Lonesome Dove like Red Murdock Red Murdock sounds like a guy that John it sounds like a name John Ficendo would have said those old life elves like you see Red Murdock like lighting up the dart before the game started making stuff like 1960 whatever it's like all right Murdock you gotta try and tackle uh oh why can't I think of anybody's name right now you gotta try and tackle this guy like Murdock all right when you say Murdock you can say complete words like ah I would say this Red Murdock he could either be a 1970's linebacker that John Ficendo loves or he could be a private investigator that every night on CBS at seven o'clock the ladies loved them in the 70's like that is that is a great name if he doesn't get drafted and the same sign name as a UDFA I mean lock him in he'll be my pick like I'm I'll buy all the Red Murdock UDFA stock Red Murdock was hanging out with Jim Rockford okay that's right it's right special crossover episode of the Rockford file or maybe like Red Murdock if you have one season spin off yeah like uh like if you if you go to do deep cuts like me I love the Rockford files like Red Murdock was the voice on the answering machine yeah yeah in the evening theme song I'm an old my my wife caught me watching the Rockford files the other day and she said my wife you're such you're such an old man that's it's almost it's almost worse it's a good show yeah it is a good show my mom my mom my mom was in love my mom well I guess still in love but still in love with uh James Garner like just yeah watching the Rockford fight that was it was watching it was the late local news mash and the Rockford files uh for years on end the Rockford file so anyway I look at this mantra I give you an A okay free aid to see my blow it apart but yeah probably if you're watching this and you're watching this on a Monday morning or you're watching this on some you know if you're a patron and you're getting early you're watching this when this ends click over to your podcast feed go to patreon.com I actually tap here we probably you got breaking news the same by the time you've watched this I've probably already signed like three dudes so I'm just saying so thanks to Kevin thanks to Thomas the best producer on earth and thanks to you guys for watching us supporting us we love you and until next time the bar is closed