The draft is a day away, and I will be interested to see what the Saints do at wide receiver. They’ll be adding one early, and I expect that player will have a good chance of leading all rookies in receptions.
The Saints currently hold the No. 8 pick, where they potentially could select Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon or Jordyn Tyson. Tate has the biggest hands of any of the top prospects and will be the only first-round receiver in the last five years who didn’t drop any passes in his final year of college ball. Zero.
Or New Orleans could figure it can get more bang out of its draft class by waiting on wide receiver at No. 42. Or, of course, it could make a trade, picking a pass catcher somewhere between those spots. But I’m confident they’ll be adding one early.
The Saints, recall, traded away Rashid Shaheed, and their No. 1 guy, Chris Olave, has had some issues with concussion. They need to add a body. It’s an important position in their offense.
Whoever they wind up with, I expect they’ll be looking to fast track them into the starting lineup, and I think that player will be catching plenty of balls. The Saints have Kellen Moore dialing up the plays, and he tends to be a receiver friendly coach.
Olave last year caught 100 passes, and Shaheed was on pace for 83 before being sent to Seattle.
Among receivers who started at least half the season, only four averaged more catches than Olave, and only one team (Dallas, with Lamb-Pickens) had two receivers who averaged more catches per game than Shaheed.
| WIDE RECEIVERS AVERAGING 4 CATCHES PER GAME | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | No | Yds | TD |
| Puka Nacua, LAR | 16 | 8.1 | 107.2 | .69 |
| Ja'Marr Chase, Cin. | 16 | 7.8 | 88.3 | .50 |
| Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Sea. | 17 | 7.0 | 105.5 | .59 |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown, Det. | 17 | 6.9 | 82.4 | .65 |
| Chris Olave, N.O. | 16 | 6.3 | 72.7 | .56 |
| Wan'Dale Robinson, NYG | 16 | 5.8 | 63.4 | .25 |
| Drake London, Atl. | 12 | 5.7 | 76.6 | .61 |
| George Pickens, Dall. | 17 | 5.5 | 84.1 | .53 |
| CeeDee Lamb, Dall. | 14 | 5.4 | 76.9 | .21 |
| A.J. Brown, Phi. | 15 | 5.2 | 66.9 | .47 |
| Zay Flowers, Balt. | 17 | 5.1 | 71.2 | .35 |
| Stefon Diggs, N.E. | 17 | 5.0 | 59.6 | .24 |
| Justin Jefferson, Min. | 17 | 4.9 | 61.6 | .12 |
| Rashid Shaheed, N.O. | 9 | 4.9 | 55.4 | .22 |
| Jakobi Meyers, 2tms | 15 | 4.8 | 52.9 | .20 |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 17 | 4.8 | 45.7 | .24 |
| Nico Collins, Hou. | 15 | 4.7 | 74.5 | .49 |
| Michael Pittman, Ind. | 17 | 4.7 | 46.1 | .43 |
| Michael Wilson, Ari. | 17 | 4.6 | 59.2 | .41 |
| DeVonta Smith, Phi. | 17 | 4.5 | 59.3 | .24 |
| Deebo Samuel, Was. | 16 | 4.5 | 45.4 | .38 |
| Khalil Shakir, Buff. | 16 | 4.5 | 44.9 | .25 |
| Courtland Sutton, Den. | 17 | 4.4 | 59.8 | .43 |
| Davante Adams, LAR | 14 | 4.3 | 56.4 | 1.00 |
| Ladd McConkey, LAC | 16 | 4.1 | 49.3 | .38 |
| Tetairoa McMillan, Car. | 17 | 4.1 | 59.6 | .41 |
| Parker Washington, Jac. | 12 | 4.1 | 60.5 | .50 |
| Ricky Pearsall, S.F. | 9 | 4.0 | 58.7 | .00 |
| Jaylen Waddle, Mia. | 16 | 4.0 | 56.9 | .38 |
The previous year, both A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith had big seasons playing for Kellen Moore. And back in 2023, Keenan Allen averaged over 8 catches for him with the Chargers. Back in 2022, Moore was involved with CeeDee Lamb catching 107 passes.
Let’s see what wide receiver ends up there. I’m hoping it’s Carnell Tate (pictured). Whoever it is, I expect he’ll be higher on my board than where he’ll appear in ADP.
—Ian Allan
