Okay, this is the last time we’ll talk about the 2024 NFL draft for, oh, probably three or four months. There’s little point in scouring 2024 mock drafts but if they do serve a purpose it’s to highlight college talent that football fans should be keying in on for the fall. We’re guessing a lot of New Orleans Saints fans were already well aware of what LSU Tigers wide receiver Malik Nabers can do, though.
Inverting the latest Super Bowl odds to determine draft order (which puts New Orleans at No. 19), The Athletic’s Dane Brugler likes the Saints to end up with the local standout in 2024:
I heard Nabers’ name multiple times at this year’s combine by 2023 draft prospects anointing him as the “next” big-time receiver to come from the SEC. He reached 1,000 yards receiving last season and played his best ball in the final few games.
He isn’t an all-world athlete at 6-foot-0 and 199 pounds, but the junior from Youngsville, La. made an immediate impact as a freshman in 2021 (catching 28 passes in 11 games to gain 417 yards and score 4 touchdown receptions) before leveling up in 2022 with 72 receptions and 1,017 yards across 14 games, scoring three times. He’s equally effective on contested-catch opportunities and in making a play after the catch. If the Saints move on from Michael Thomas next year, Nabers would be a popular prospect in New Orleans.
Brugler is as clued-in as it gets for draft analysts — he was in on the Saints-Chris Olave connection as early as April 2020, so he isn’t just drawing names out of a hat here. The Saints are notorious for rarely bringing in LSU products, but that’s begun to change under head coach Dennis Allen with flashy free agent pickups like Tyrann Mathieu and Jarvis Landry in recent years. Maybe Allen does well enough to remain in position come 2024, and Nabers could be hot on his radar.
