Their grades are in!
The New Orleans Saints’ 2025 NFL Draft felt more about raising the team’s floor, not the ceiling. This is the first step of a rebuild, and the Saints accomplished that this year. Due to this, draft grades may be a bit all over the place this year, especially when New Orleans went with a controversial selection, QB Tyler Shough. Still, it is always fun to see some grades the Saints got and use them in the future as a reference for the draft class, and today, it is time to look at PFSN’s 2025 Saints draft grades.
The Grades
Round 1 (#9) Kelvin Banks Jr: B-
Round 2 (#40) Tyler Shough: B
Round 3 (#71) Vernon Broughton: D
Round 3 (#93) Jonas Sanker: B-
Round 4 (#112) Danny Stutsman: B-
Round 4 (#131) Quincy Riley: A
Round 6 (#184) Devin Neal: A
Round 7 (#248) Moliki Matavao: B+
Round 7 (#254) Fadil Diggs: A
Overall Draft Grade: C
The vision is sound, but the execution is open to questioning. Kelvin Banks Jr. was their first pick (ninth overall), and while he comes to town with all of the physical traits you could ask for, his lack of attention to detail at the position is a concern.
That’s not to say that he will be a bust, but in drafting a centerpiece lineman ahead of securing a long-term solution to the QB position, you need him to be a massive hit and it’s fair to question if we will see that.
Speaking of the quarterback, Tyler Shough was a much talked about second round selection. The pride of Louisville has the type of physical traits that scream ‘long term starter’, but the problem is that “long-term” for him isn’t what it is for most first year QBs (26 years old).
If the team commits to him this season, taking a cautious approach with Derek Carr, then this grade would move closer to a ‘B’, but without clarity to his 2025 role, an older prospect comes with plenty of roster building risk.