It’s time for another 2024 mock draft as we continue to build our New Orleans Saints watch list in anticipation of the college football season. The Saints were projected to pick fast-rising Boston College guard Christian Mahogany, a name already high on our 2024 watch list, in this admittedly way-too-early model from ESPN’s Jordan Reid. Here’s Reid’s reasoning:
Interior offensive line is a major question mark for the Saints, with their top three options — Andrus Peat, Cesar Ruiz and Calvin Throckmorton — all scheduled to become free agents following the season. Mahogany was getting early-round buzz before tearing his right ACL heading into the 2022 season, and now that he is healthy, scouts are watching to see if he can follow Chris Lindstrom (2019) and Zion Johnson (2022) as the next Boston College first-round lineman. Mahogany has spent time at both guard spots, and at 6-foot-3, 335 pounds, he is tough to beat.
Few teams invest early-round picks in the trenches like New Orleans. Since Jeff Ireland was hired to oversee their college scouting department in 2015, New Orleans has picked offensive or defensive linemen with 11 of their 19 selections in the first two rounds. As Reid observed, the Saints will be looking for new blood at guard next offseason with all three of their top players at the position headed for free agency.
If Mahogany meets expectations and helps the Boston College line return to form, he could very well end up being their pick next April. But first he needs to prove he’s fully recovered from last year’s knee injury, and that he can play at a high enough level to justify that kind of buzz. So which other positions are on Reid’s radar when it comes to New Orleans?
Beyond the interior offensive line, Reid highlighted wide receiver and the defensive line as positions of need. Some prospects in his mock draft who could fit what the Saints typically look for include Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy (though he’s skinny at just 160 pounds; Rashid Shaheed is the lightest receiver in New Orleans at a listed 181 pounds) and Illinois defensive lineman Jer’Zhan Newton, a disruptive player who lined up at both end and tackle. We’ll add them both to the list.
