The New Orleans Saints’ 2022 draft class got a raw deal. Injuries hit them harder than most, with multiple players missing much of their rookie season with injuries — first-round left tackle Trevor Penning lost the start of his season to turf toe surgery, and ended it with a Lisfranc fracture; second-round cornerback Alontae Taylor missed four games, and fifth-round linebacker D’Marco Jackson was lost for the entire season to an undisclosed training camp injury.
So it’s kind of difficult to evaluate the rookie draft class. Aaron Schatz and Alex Vigderman gave it a shot for ESPN, and they reached a sensible conclusion by ranking New Orleans’ first-year pros near the middle of the league at No. 18 overall. Here’s their reasoning for that placement:
“The Saints had only five picks in last year’s draft, and one of their first-round picks, offensive tackle Trevor Penning, was healthy enough to play only six games this season. But the Saints still had a good rookie class with major contributions from one draftee on each side of the ball plus an undrafted surprise.
Wide receiver Chris Olave finished the season with 1,042 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Olave was the highest rookie wide receiver in ESPN Analytics’ advanced receiver ratings. Cornerback Alontae Taylor played in only 11 games but was outstanding in coverage, with just 4.3 yards per target allowed. And undrafted wide receiver Rashid Shaheed didn’t play until Week 6 but was a starter by the final five games of the season and ended the year with 488 yards and two touchdowns on 17.4 yards per reception.”
That checks out. Olave was one of the most exciting young players in the NFL last season, and Shaheed is looking like an excellent complement at wide receiver. Taylor showed a ton of promise in matching up with the best receivers in pro football at times this season. Penning’s limited snaps were good to see, too; he just needs to prove his body can hold up.
If Penning can return to good health and lock down the starting job while Olave and Shaheed continue to progress at receiver, with Taylor nailing down his own role in the secondary, things are in good shape. Hopefully Jackson can carve out a niche for himself at linebacker behind Demario Davis and Pete Werner (though Kaden Elliss’s free agency and Zack Baun’s presence complicate things). It’s a shame the Saints didn’t get more out of sixth-round defensive lineman Jordan Jackson, who opted to sign with the Denver Broncos rather than re-sign with New Orleans’ practice squad. Hopefully the other 2022 rookies can step up.