Saints Biggest Remaining Roster Needs | BEST New Orleans NFL Draft Pick? | New Orleans Saints News

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Kat Terrell of ESPN joins Matt Musso on AFR to react to the Saints 2024 draft class. We react to the class as a whole, debate the hits and misses, and discuss the remaining roster holes. What was the biggest surprise from the Saints draft? We also debate who has the edge for winning the top backup quarterback role for New Orleans.

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welcome to the AFR Saints Channel where we provide you daily content on your favorite team the New Orleans Saints do us a favor and hit that subscribe button be sure to leave your comments below and smash that like button who that the NFL draft is in the books the Saints checked a lot of boxes that they normally do they drafted some needs they traded up they took small school guys all the things that the Saints normally do let’s recap it all cat Terell from ESPN joins us she’s on Twitter _ Terell covers the Saints cat we appreciate the time how are you I’m doing great how are you I’m doing fantastic uh there’s a lot to go through with this draft for the Saints I just want to start kind of with a broad overview from you though your take on their class as a whole here in 2024 yeah I mean I think they did exactly what they needed to do uh they didn’t waste too much draft Capital by trading up um they you know got an offensive tackle which is by far their biggest need I thought cornerback is probably going to be a big need either this year or next year depending on what happens with Marshon Latimore so I really thought that the first two picks were you know kind of exactly what they needed and then Dennis Allen said he kind of looked at the last picks as developmental prospects um which is kind of interesting way to put it you know day three prospects are developmental prospects almost always in some with the exception of some circumstances but it’s kind of interesting that he said that just because you know I think that this team isn’t a team where every spot is full and you know they have the luxury of not drafting guys who can contribute right away but um you know I do think that a couple of these guys probably will find spots uh pretty quickly in the line up we’re going to go through a lot of them here momentarily but I did want to kind of ask were you at all surprised that they didn’t trade up from the fifth round like that they actually stood Pat after the second after trading up four spots in the second round never made a pick in round three or four uh maybe a little just because that tends to be their emo and they even admitted it was really hard for them to do I I think once they got to four I figured they would kind of stand Pat at that point but yeah I was a little surprised they didn’t uh try to move up to maybe three but you know maybe just didn’t find a trade that they felt comfortable with all right let’s get into to a few of the guys you mentioned uh tella fua of course the the offensive tackle they took with 14 overall and man it was interesting to hear Dennis Allen talk about him after and even Jim naggie about could he play right tackle or left tackle I think everyone’s immediate thought when they see him and they see that he spent most of the time at right tackle given the health issues that Ryan ramek has I mean you can definitely infer something there I mean it do you think it’s more of a indictment on what they feel like they can get out of Ryan Ram or do they really believe they can just flip him over to the left side of the uh the line and let him play there well I think that even if ramtech finds a way to uh play this year and get through a whole season we’re still looking at a shortterm career here in my opinion I think that it’s going to be a problem that you know he has deteriorating cartilage in as me it’s not really fix and maybe you can get through a season so even if you’re thinking he can get through 2024 there’s absolutely no guarantee he could get through 2025 so you have to address it especially when you’re looking at a position where you need a tackle on both sides and it is very hard to just go out and find the next great tackle I mean you saw a number of tackles go off the board in the first round for a reason so you know maybe they were looking at left tackle and they just couldn’t work without the board foul um so I think that they feel confident that he probably can play on either side but you know they’re they’re probably thinking that he is Ram check a replacement eventually whether you know that’s this year or next year so what do they do with the other Tackle Spot in that regard then because I mean you know look they take the guy out of Eastern Kentucky in the seventh round but we just got done talking about how that’s developmental right on on day three is this a I mean obviously the next question would be free agency but is it a simply is bringing back Andress Pete or do they potentially maybe look elsewhere there I don’t know they seem pretty dismissive about Andress Pete right now which I find kind of interesting you know last time Mickey Lumis was asked about him he just said well he’s a free agent which is typically what he says when you know he doesn’t really want to discuss it and also doesn’t want to insult the player um so it kind of feels like they’ve moved on but you know I’m that’s just me inferring so even if they did resign and they’d still have to account for all the dead money so it’s not like even if they signed pece for you know minimum that he would count minimum against the cap because his contract voided he would count a lot against the cap so that is one thing I mean they might not care but I think they will kind of look at all options they did add um players in free agency I don’t think they’ve given up on Trevor Penning yet and I don’t think they should um you know it’s year three and critical year for him but I think as they said he was a small school player so you know there is going to be a learning curve there so I don’t think they’ve given up on them but I also think they’re trying to be realistic and explore all their options and not just try to force while Penning was a first rounder so we’re again gonna try to start him if he’s not ready and if he’s not there yet speaking of uh Mickey Lumis at his most recent media availability there previewing the draft uh he was asked about Marshon lore and if he’ll be on the roster and he said yes and then I believe it was you actually who followed up warning more on that and Mickey admitted to trying to avoid the question uh and then they go draft Kool-Aid mckinstry what does that mean if anything for Marshon ladimore this year in New Orleans yeah initially when he said that I was surprised that people just kind of let that go because yeah I think I think he is kind of looking at it from a perspective of well I’m gonna say yeah because I’m always expecting anyone to be on the team until the they’re not I guess or until someone makes us a good offer so it was interesting that he did that because you he’s been around forever he has to know by saying that that creates a huge headline Marshon Latimore on the team in 2024 that means he’s not getting traded I think that they understand that it will be difficult to trade him his contract is significant and so another team would have to want to both pick up the contract and give the Saints something acceptable in return not to mention he’s been hurt two years in a row there are a lot of variables so I think that they’re just trying to say as little as possible honestly that’s probably why he’s trying to avoid the question he doesn’t want to add fuel to the fire or just say anything that could you know make this situation worse if Latimore indeed is on the team uh in 2024 but you know once you look at Latimore’s contract next year it becomes significantly easier to move on from that so it’s probably the same thing as the tackle situation if it’s even if it’s not a starting situation this year then maybe it is for next year so I do think that those two were good picks and that they filled a need and probably could help out fill a f help fill a future need sorry I’m just stumbling over my words today it happens to the best of us you should have heard me in the first segment uh cat Terell is our guest she’s on Twitter _ Terell covers the Saints obviously for ESPN cat maybe the most intriguing pick the Saints made was their first one in round when they took Spencer Rattler um is Spencer Rattler the favorite to win the backup quarterback job yeah that one is intriguing I it makes me wonder how they truly feel about Jake Kanner and there’s a lot of different ways you could go with why they made that pick they were saying well you know he was just the highest rated player on the board which is an easy thing to say an easy reason to give maybe they don’t like what they’ve seen out of Hanner and or maybe they just think well we had a lot of fifth round picks we want the best guy for the backup job and you know if these two can compete for it and we can develop them then you know there’s nothing wrong with that because a lot of people will say well you know it’s it’s a wasted pick but I mean let’s be honest on day three a ton of picks are wasted picks it just gets more scrutiny because it’s a quarterback so I am I’m really intrigued uh I feel like they’re I feel like they would find some way to keep them all around whether it’s practice squad you know know I mean I guess you could put Rattler and Haner on the active roster I mean this is really premature um but I mean I don’t know I don’t think one of these veterans are going to be on the active roster I think that maybe they keep a veteran on the practice squad I mean it’s not a bad idea to have a vet around with these young guys but usually you don’t see two young guys on the active roster because having three quarterbacks is kind of a luxury having two of those be development guys I don’t know if I can recall a situation where I’ve seen that recently now I’m going to have to go check and and find that out because I’m kind of intrigued so when when you say keep all of them you you don’t mean like Peterman and like all five right yeah not all five okay uh when I say all of them I mean Hanner Rattler and Carr and then maybe you keep a veteran on the practice squad or you have them in a situation where you can call on them uh Sometimes some teams do that even if not on the roster I think that would probably be Overkill though um you know it’s so hard to say when we didn’t see haer play last year and he wasn’t even he was suspended the first six games of the season right so uh I’d be surprised if they just thought after one year they’re moving on but uh I mean it does happen but with this team we’ve just seen it happen so few times because despite what Dennis Allen said what with you know him saying they we drafted quite a few quarterbacks when Drew Brees was here that’s not the case they actually barely ever drafted quarterbacks when Breeze was there so it’s just kind of unknown territory um for people that have watched this team in recent memory it’s one it’s one of the more intriguing storylines honestly for me to to watch as the offseason goes on that backup spot because it it’s been such an important position for the Saints the last what five six years I mean with the IND of breezes career and then of course with jamus going down with the ACL and then Derek Carr last year I mean they’ve always had that veteran and now where you could be looking at two I mean young guys it’s it’s just it’s kind of Uncharted Territory for them in more than a half decade so that’s why I look at that and I go they keep bringing in guys to kind of compete you think with Jay Kaner and I mean it’s like man who can anyone unseat him where do they go there so it’s just that one’s going to be fun to watch kind of throughout Camp uh cat we touched on offensive tackle after looking at this draft whether it be through free agency or guys you kind of already have or whatnot what what are the bigger the biggest remaining holes for the Saints roster so far um safety maybe I think you look at Matthew and you know he’s going to be the starter this year um added another year in his contract but still took a pay cut to do so so you’re not really looking at Matthew as a really long-term guy as much as that I’m sure pains people to listen to um although you know you never know it’s Tyrant so U maybe I’m completely wrong and he plays several more years but he’s still have to account for it so with May gone and then you know Matthew not knowing how long he’ll play I think it’s probably always a good idea to keep adding DBS um Dennis Allen loves to say you can never have too many cornerbacks I think a lot of times sometimes they go with less safeties in cornerbacks but I think as a whole you probably never have too many DBS so they might keep looking at that that would be the one spot I would say well you know maybe they want to keep looking on the market just to add some dep she is cat Terell espn.com covers the Saints on Twitter _ Terell good enough to spend some time with us here today recapping Saints draft looking at remaining holes things of that nature rookie mini camp next up on the docket for the New Orleans Saints season fast approaching cat we appreciate the time as always thank you yep thanks for having me on hey thanks so much for watching please leave your comments I love to interact and be sure to hit the red subscribe button below [Music] that must than you after f with you after f with