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Best In Show Winner Declared
New Orleans Saints 2008 Draft Picks:Round 1 (7): Sedrick Ellis, DT, USC
Round 2 (40): Tracy Porter, CB, Indiana
Round 5 (144): DeMario Pressley, DT, North Carolina St.
Round 5 (164): Carl Nicks, OT, Nebraska
Round 6 (178): Taylor Mehlhaff, K, Wisconsin
Round 7 (237): Adrian Arrington, WR, Michigan
The Good: The Saints needed to come out of the draft with either Glenn Dorsey or Ellis, and got Ellis at a great price. He's going to make an immediate impact for a defense which has long lacked a playmaker. Porter is an underrated corner who didn't get much exposure, but he's great at man coverage which plays right into the Saints' defensive scheme. Defensive tackle and cornerback were the team's biggest needs, and they addressed them well right away.
Arrington is already being saddled with Marques Colston comparisons -- he's got the size Colston has and a reputation for making tough catches and being reliable in the redzone, though overshadowed by Mario Manningham. The Saints targeted him as a free agent, but sensing he'd be selected before that traded a '09 sixth-rounder to get back into the seventh for him.
The Bad: While the Saints seemed to get great value in the fifth with Pressley (a projected second-rounder) and Nicks (third), they uncharacteristically went against their personnel philosophy. Both Nicks and Arrington had trouble with the law in college, and Pressley is known as talented but inconsistent with a questionable work ethic. The team has never drafted talent at the expense of character, but they took that risk here. They also could have afforded to add a linebacker with one of those late picks, but many teams shied away from that position, possibly indicating a simple lack of talent.
The Grade: B. Ellis and Porter will contribute a lot right away, and I'm pretty confident that Mehlhaff's big leg will be valuable on field goals and kickoffs alike, but the other three picks are question marks. If the team is right in that the issues Pressley, Nicks, and Arrington have had are more indications of long-gone misguided youth than deeper-seeded issues, the Saints will have had one hell of a draft. If not, Ellis and Porter alone is a very good bounty.
Click here to read other Draft Grades.
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