What makes a draftable wide receiver in the NFL? There’s a good chance that if you ask a scout from all 32 teams across the league, you’ll get 32 different answers. Some will value certain combinations of height, weight, and speed; others will look to collegiate production, and others will turn to traits shown on tape. The New Orleans Saints have their own formula to determine their prototype and potential fits. While we can expect some of those benchmarks to shift after this offseason’s regime changes, there are some easily observable qualities that New Orleans values.
Looking over the draft classes since 2015, when Jeff Ireland joined the team as their college scouting director, we can build a rubric against which to evaluate this year’s incoming wide receiver class. We can also look at the team’s recent free agency pursuit of Marquez Valdes-Scantling to find a prospect that matches the mold almost identically.
Since 2015, the Saints have only drafted three wide receivers. That’s a small sample size to build a mold out of. However, if we expand the search back to 2007, we get similar measurables with 10 receivers. Based off the averages of those pass-catchers’ height, weight, speed, and production numbers, we can build our criteria.
