The Saints 2020 draft class consists of just four players, but the franchise believes it will be a successful class. In the first round New Orleans drafted Cesar Ruiz, a center from Michigan and then traded multiple picks to select two players in the third round, Wisconsin linebacker Zack Baun and Dayton tight end Adam Trautman.
GM Mickey Loomis says it’s about the quality of the picks, not how many you made.
“Yeah. Look, I’m extremely excited about (the selections) and sometimes there’s a little bit of a downer when you only have three players,” said Loomis. “You can look at it that way. I don’t look at it that way. I feel like we’ve added three high quality players, high character, intelligent guys who are going to fit with our roster perfectly. And we’ve had a lot of success in the undrafted free agent arena over the years. And so I’m excited about what we might be able to find there.”
These rookies will not have the benefit of an offseason conditioning program or O-T-As. But Saints Coach Sean Payton doesn’t believe they will be too far behind when training camp starts.
“All of these players are off the charts, smart, tough guys in other areas, great scores in a lot of different areas relative to the mental side of the game,” said Payton. “Part of that is our identification where we are finding what we call a Saint player.”
The Saints sent their fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh round draft picks to Minnesota to take Trautman with the 105th pick. The FCS tight end had 70 catches for 916 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. Trautman was a quarterback in high school, but switched to tight end when he got on Dayton’s campus.
“I didn’t really think I would play another position and then once I switched positions, I didn’t think that it could get to this point, where you get drafted on day two and all that,” said Trautman. “But I knew the work I put in helped to make that a realistic thing in my life and I couldn’t have imagined it, but obviously I’m glad it’s here now.”
Baun didn’t play in 2017 at Wisconsin because of a foot injury. He ended his career in a Badger uniform last season with 75 tackles, 19.5 tackles for a loss, 12.5 sacks and one interception.
The Saints made a trade with the Texans to get a seventh round pick and used that select Mississippi State quarterback Tommy Stevens. He has a lot of athleticism for someone who is six-foot-five and could play a Taysom Hill role for the Black and Gold.
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