Here’s another name to file away on our watch list for the upcoming college football season. Draft Wire’s Luke Easterling put together a two-round mock draft ahead of the 2023 NFL draft, and while the New Orleans Saints don’t have a first-round pick next year they do own a second rounder — when Easterling suggests they should spend on South Carolina prospect Zacch Pickens, one of the top defensive tackles in the nation.
It’s easy to see why defensive tackle could be a priority. New Orleans’ top interior lineman, David Onyemata, is playing out the final year of his contract. So are some other familiar names in the rotation behind him, like Shy Tuttle, Malcolm Roach, Albert Huggins, and Jaleel Johnson. Position-flexible linemen like Tanoh Kpassagnon, Kentavius Street, and Taco Charlton are also playing on expiring contracts. The unit could see a lot of turnover next spring.
So it would be nice to add a splashy rookie like Pickens, who enters his senior year having logged a start in 20 of his 35 appearances with the Gamecocks. He fits New Orleans’ prototype for the position at a listed weight of 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds and has been improving year-over-year in the SEC. Here’s what the Athletic’s Dane Brugler wrote of Pickens in his own 2023 mock draft, which saw the South Carolina prospect land inside the first round:
“An athletic big man, Pickens isn’t yet a finished product, but you don’t need to squint to see why NFL scouts are intrigued by his talent. South Carolina has a solid track record of producing defensive linemen, and Pickens is next up in the hopper.”
So there’s a good chance Pickens doesn’t make it to New Orleans in the second round. If he meets his potential as a senior and puts it all together he’ll be an easy pick for teams in the first round. But it’s worth noting that Pickens is the third-ranked defensive tackle for 2023 in Easterling’s two-round mock, with only Georgia’s Jalen Carter and Clemson’s Bryan Bresee going ahead of him, and they were both picked top-7. Easterling has Pickens landing with the Saints at No. 44 overall, ahead of Florida’s Gervon Dexter and LSU’s Jaquelin Roy. It’s a strong group, and it goes to show that New Orleans should have options once they’re on the clock.
Maybe the Saints end up with Pickens after all. Maybe they’ll select Ole Miss running back Zach Evans, another prospect mocked to them recently, instead. Odds are it’ll be a player none of us expect right now. So for now, we’ll just be keeping an eye on them when college football kicks off in the fall. These year-early mock drafts are more useful as fodder for watch lists than any predictive qualities — so much is going to change between now and the event next April, with a full season of college ball to play out and then an arduous pre-draft process of all-star games and workouts adding more smokescreens.
