The New Orleans Saints have a lot of holes on the roster to fill, but the biggest ones are focused on pass catchers and the defensive line.
Pro Football Focus’ Gordon McGuinness listed out the largest positions of need for each team in the NFL draft. He listed four for the Saints, but they all really focused on those two parts of the field: wide receivers, tight ends, interior defensive linemen and defensive ends.
Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed are excellent options at wide receiver, but this year proved that you cannot go into the year just with them. Injuries are bad luck, but they both could be considered injury-prone. New Orleans could also use another, bigger body at the position.
At tight end, it would be a need even if Juwan Johnson wasn’t heading into free agency. Johnson had not become the pass catching threat he showed flashes of early and the Saints have lacked a true threat there for too long.
Bryan Bresee showed a lot of growth this season on the defensive interior, but they still need help there. The run defense was awful and Bresee was a culprit. Adding run-stopper to the mix could be a nice pairing with their current youngster’s pass rush skills.
Speaking of the pass rush, the defensive end could be considered their biggest need. Carl Granderson had a hard time finishing sacks, Cameron Jordan is continuing to regress with age and Chase Young is heading to free agency. Going into next year without adding another end would be malpractice.
