Malcolm Jenkins Is Great, but Saints' Draft Rides on Punter

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

Here's the good news: The Saints got the guy they and their fans wanted all along in 14th-overall selection Malcolm Jenkins, the cornerback/safety who should seriously upgrade the Saints' secondary no matter where he plays.

Here's the puzzling news: After spending the first three of their four picks on defense, the team inexplicably traded up from the seventh round to the fifth to select ... a punter, Thomas Morstead. As much of an impact as Jenkins will likely make, it's the performance of Morstead that will, in the near future, be the measure of the team's 2009 draft.

The picks that Jenkins and Morstead sandwiched, fourth-round selections (and former Wake Forest teammates) Chip Vaughn (safety) and Stanley Arnoux (weakside linebacker) are pretty much what you look for at that point in the draft -- guys who can definitely contribute on special teams immediately, but who also might push for starting jobs soon. Both also came at positions of need for the team, so you can't complain there.

After those two picks were made, the Saints weren't slated to pick again until the seventh round. But they then traded that seventh-rounder and a 2010 fifth-round pick to be able to select Morstead in the fifth round this year, a move that elicited many Huhs from fans and observers. With Jenkins being a lock for NFL success (if you listen to draftniks, anyway, since that's all we can go on at this point), and Vaughn and Arnoux being low risk, moderate reward prospects, it's up to Morstead to prove that the Saints didn't make a foolish pick in a four-pick draft with no room for missteps.

The thing is that the Saints do have a need for a punter, and have since Sean Payton arrived in New Orleans; field position has perpetually been a thorn in the team's side despite a number of attempted solutions. And the team thinks it has that solution in Morstead. If so, more power to them, and if Morstead becomes the second coming of Shane Lechler, even more power to them.

But if he becomes anything less than a mainstay among the league's leading punters, the decision to not only pick him (a luxury pick for a team that still has some holes to fill) but trade up for him, the grade for this one becomes much worse. And one can't help but think to last year's selection of supposed uber-kicker Taylor Mehlhaff, who was supposed to solve the team's kicker woes but who flamed out quite early in his NFL career.

They say it's those middle rounds where teams find the salt-of-the-Earth players who help them win championships. Morstead will have the chance most fifth-round picks don't get -- the ability to slide relatively unchallenged into a starting job -- but he's also got a lot more pressure riding on his leg.

Draft Picks

1 (14) Malcolm Jenkins, DB, Ohio State
4 (116) Chip Vaughn, S, Wake Forest
4 (118) Stanley Arnoux, LB, Wake Forest
5 (164) Thomas Morstead, P, Southern Methodist

GRADE: B. If Jenkins is as good as advertised, it honestly doesn't really matter how the rest of these picks fare. That being said, all we know right now is that the team had four picks, and used one (along with one next year) on a punter. That weighs this down some.