Saints repeat their mistakes in Mel Kiper’s awful updated mock draft
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ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. opens his explanation for the New Orleans Saints’ pick in his latest projection with a disclaimer: “Yes, I’m projecting an edge rusher in Round 1 who had zero sacks last season.”
That’s exactly what Saints fans don’t want to see after the team’s bold trade to net Marcus Davenport flopped. The prospect Kiper has linked to New Orleans in his updated 2021 mock draft is Penn State defensive end Jayson Oweh, a physical marvel without the production to match.
Oweh didn’t start until his third year with the Nittany Lions, and his experience in football is, well, limited. He didn’t put pads on until his junior year of high school, having focused on basketball for most of his life. Now he’s a still-growing 6-foot-5, 252-pound athlete who could be the next big thing among NFL pass rushers — which is exactly what was said of Davenport after the 2018 draft.
Here’s Kiper’s full explanation of the pick:
“Yes, I’m projecting an edge rusher in Round 1 who had zero sacks last season. But turn on the tape. He pressured quarterbacks even if he didn’t close on them. And this is all about what I’m hearing Oweh is going to do at his pro day on March 25. There is a lot of buzz that he’s going to run a 4.4 40-yard dash at 255 pounds and wow coaches and scouts with his testing numbers. He is an extraordinary athlete with room to grow into a great player. Oweh made my preseason list of Big Ten prospects to monitor, and even though he didn’t put it all together, he has a high ceiling. The Saints, meanwhile, could lose Trey Hendrickson in free agency, creating a hole at defensive end.”
Maybe Oweh would have a more successful transition than Davenport. But it’s impossible not to draw a comparison between the two players given all of the similarities. Like Davenport, he’d be a work-in-progress who wouldn’t hit his stride until his second or third season — but Davenport is entering his fourth year in the NFL and still hasn’t broken out.
And the big selling point about Oweh (his ability to get after the quarterback) even comes with an asterisk. Pro Football Focus charted him with just 409 pass rush snaps over three years in college, creating only 54 pressures. That is an impressive rate of 13.2%, but he’s going to see much more difficult matchups in the NFL and that rate is probably going to be cut in half.
Kiper’s right about one thing: Hendrickson could leave in free agency. Cameron Jordan isn’t getting any younger. If Davenport doesn’t have his fifth-year option exercised this summer, he could be out of New Orleans this time next year. Drafting his replacement makes sense, but do we have to be so literal in adding someone with so many of the same flaws on his scouting report?
I mean, come on. He even wears No. 28, which is the most swaggerless number imaginable for a defensive end. What are we doing here?
