There aren’t many draft analysts better clued-in than Daniel Jeremiah, who recently published his latest 2023 mock draft for NFL.com. And he has the New Orleans Saints making a sneaky-great pick at the end of the first round. Jeremiah likes the Saints to pick Notre Dame prospect Michael Mayer, pairing Juwan Johnson (who signed a two-year extension last week) with the best tight end in the 2023 draft class.
“Mayer would be an excellent value pick at this point in Round 1. He is a complete tight end, and Derek Carr would have a reliable security blanket on third down,” Jeremiah wrote of the pick.
We know the Saints are in the market for another starting tight end, having hosted former LSU Tigers standout Foster Moreau on a free agent visit. Their 2020 third-round pick Adam Trautman has not developed as hoped and might be limited to blocking on specific assignments. Adding a more-dynamic player like Moreau or Mayer who can reliably catch passes while staying on the field to block would make sense, even if Johnson is poised to be the main receiving threat at tight end. Mayer is one of the most-experienced blocking tight ends in the 2023 draft class, having logged 919 snaps as a run-blocker over the last three years.
And we also know that the Saints are looking for another player who can win on contested catches, which is where Mayer really shines. He’s a big target at 6-foot-4 1/2 and 249 pounds, with his 31 5/8-inch arms giving him a 76 1/4-inch wingspan. He uses that frame to bully opponents. Mayer caught 17 of his 26 contested targets last season, most among all tight ends and more than all but five players in this year’s crop at wide receiver. It’s an area of his game that he’s developed year over year, catching 3 of 6 contested targets in 2020 before improving to 13 of 26 in 2021, and 17 of 26 last year, per Pro Football Focus charting.
If that skill can translate to the NFL, Mayer could address multiple vulnerabilities in the Saints offense with his sure hands and vast blocking experience. Tight ends are notoriously slow to develop at the pro level given everything asked of them as receivers and blockers, but Mayer would be a good fit in New Orleans with Johnson’s presence keeping too many assignments being put on his plate too soon. It’s also a deep draft class at tight end, though, so teams that like Mayer might pass on him angling to get similar prospects in rounds two or three. Then again, this idea goes out the window altogether if the Saints can secure a veteran player like Moreau in free agency.
