The 2022 NFL Draft will kick off tomorrow night. As always, you can expect some movement in the first round.
We’ve already had two teams swap first round selections, with the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles making a trade earlier this month. The Saints received two of Philly’s first round selections (No. 16 and No. 19) and gave the Eagles the 18th overall pick as compensation in what was an eight-pick deal in total.
According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, the Saints might not be done. In this morning’s draft notebook, Graziano named New Orleans as a team to watch for a potential trade up.
People to whom I’ve spoken are split on what they think the Saints are planning. Some believe they’re positioning themselves to get one of the offensive tackles, because they have to replace Terron Armstead, who signed with the Dolphins in free agency. With the Chargers possibly looking at tackles, too, it would make sense to try to move ahead of them just in case.
Others believe the Saints are trying to move up to get one of the big wide receivers, though we don’t know which one.
You might notice the word quarterback is not included in those paragraphs. Graziano said it seems “unlikely” the Saints would move up for one, though that contradicts with what Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline said over the weekend.
“Right now, it looks like a sure bet the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers take a signal-caller in the first round,” Pauline wrote. “Word is there’s a very real possibility the Seattle Seahawks move into the back end of Round 1 and grab their quarterback of the future.”
All the maneuvering the Saints have already done makes it seem like they have a specific target or targets they are focusing on. We’ll see if they do any other moving around to try and land the piece or pieces they covet.
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