So this is concerning. Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane shared an ominous take on the first-round prospects in the 2023 NFL draft, which could mean tough sledding for the New Orleans Saints — Beane’s Bills are scheduled to pick at No. 27 overall, just ahead of the Saints at No. 29.
When asked about the number of prospects to have earned a first-round grade at his pre-draft press conference with Buffalo media, Beane was blunt: “It’s not great.”
That’s not unusual to hear. Teams often hand out somewhere between 15 and 25 first-round grades each year, meaning players picked at the end of the first round are graded similarly to those taken in the second round (if not later, depending on the depth of the class). That’s also why the Saints are so active in trading to move up and get a player they’ve graded highly rather than stay put and settle for less.
For his part, Beane isn’t eager to move up. He would rather move down and get more picks, but much like his peer Mickey Loomis, he’s going to keep an eye on the draft board as things shake out next week: “When it starts to get to pick 20, five, six, seven picks out, I think we’ll start to know whether we think there’s going to be someone there that we should try and stay for, move up for, or move back and gain more picks.”
Loomis and the Saints have traded up many times in the first round, most recently maneuvering a few slots ahead to get Chris Olave (and before that, they leapt halfway up the chart to select Marcus Davenport). Other first-round trades of theirs on draft day have brought in players like Brandin Cooks, Mark Ingram II, Sedrick Ellis, Jammal Brown, and Johnathan Sullivan. So it’s a bit of a mixed bag. We’ll see whether Loomis agrees with Beane’s assessment next Thursday.
