The newest four-round 2023 mock draft comes from NFL.com’s Chad Reuter, and it starts with an on-brand pick for the New Orleans Saints at No. 29 overall. Reuter did a good job addressing some of the team’s top draft needs and he got off to a hot start with a prospect that hasn’t been linked to the Saints very often in the first round just yet. Let’s break it down:
Round 1
The pick at No. 29 is North Dakota State offensive lineman Cody Mauch. Reuter’s take:
Interior blockers Andrus Peat and Cesar Ruiz have uncertain futures with the Saints. Mauch can play all five positions on the line and brings the same sort of nastiness as last year’s first-rounder, left tackle Trevor Penning.
The Saints get a lot of snaps out of their sixth lineman (Calvin Throckmorton played nearly 1,400 snaps the last two years) so Mauch would play a lot as a rookie, even if he isn’t starting. And both Peat and Ruiz are likely to be free agents next offseason, so Mauch is a replacement plan for at least one of them. This would be a frustrating pick for fans hoping to wait through the first round all night and land an exciting receiver or pass rusher, but it’s the kind of smart foundational move the Saints are known for.
Round 2
Reuter’s pick for the Saints at No. 40: Clemson defensive tackle Bryan Bresee. Look, I’m not the biggest fan of Bresee’s scouting report — he didn’t develop at Clemson and leaves college without much production to hang his hat on or high-upside traits to work with — but he is a good athlete and should respond well to NFL coaching. He’d be a better pick in the second round than the first, but there are still other defensive tackles I like better, like Michigan’s Mazi Smith or Wisconsin’s Keeanu Benton.
Round 3
It isn’t just the local mock drafts calling for Tulane running back Tyjae Spears to stay in New Orleans at pick No. 71. And it’s easy to see why. His electric, slashing running style is a very effective compliment to the thundering hits Jamaal Williams enjoys dishing out, and Spears’ efficiency on passing downs both as a receiver and pass protector stand out from the rest of the draft class. He’d be an ideal succession plan for Alvin Kamara.
Round 4
The fourth and final round of this mock draft brings the Saints Ohio State safety Ronnie Hickman Jr. at No. 114 overall. He’s got good size for the position at 6-foot-0 and 209 pounds, and he moves really well from a variety of alignments — the slot, single-high free safety, in the box, and everywhere in-between. He can run on special teams, too. He’d be a really solid pick for New Orleans at this point in the draft.
Analysis
This is, overall, a very solid draft. The Saints improved their offensive line and got more athletic on that side of the ball in adding Mauch and Spears. Bresee isn’t my favorite defensive tackle prospect but he could develop into a nice player in the rotation behind Khalen Saunders and Nathan Shepherd. Hickman fits the prototype the Saints like almost perfectly (he even played at Ohio State). It would be nice to get another defensive end, linebacker, or tight end in the early rounds, but that’s nitpicking. The Saints can address those needs and others with their four remaining picks (with a pair of selections in both rounds five and seven).
