On Monday night, the 2024–2025 college football season ended with Ohio State defeating Notre Dame in the championship game. The 2025 NFL Draft, which takes place on April 24th, is now one step closer in the football world. The New Orleans Saints are still searching for a head coach, a search that was postponed by Tuesday’s unprecedented snowfall. The team still has the ninth choice in the draft.
Let’s examine fourteen mock drafts that have been published since the National Championship Game using NFLMockDraftDatabase.com to discover which draft experts believe the Saints will choose with selection number nine.
The Saints choose an edge rusher with their choice in half of the mock drafts. Mykel Williams, the Georgia star, is the most favored option. According to Brad Menendez of Draft Countdown, Keith Lott of Fantasy Six Pack, and Brock Vierra of Sports Illustrated, the Saints will pick the 6’5″, 265-pound junior who finished his junior season with five sacks and two forced fumbles.
James Pearce Jr., the 6’5, 243-pound Tennessee Bednarik Award semi-finalist, was another well-liked pick at EDGE. The Saints are picking Pearce, who led the SEC in sacks as a sophomore with 10 before earning 7.5 sacks and 23 solo tackles in his junior year, according to Bleacher Nation’s Sam Russell and Fantasy Pros’ Seth Woolcock.
The Saints pick defensive lineman from Texas A&M in two of the mock selections. The Saints are selecting EDGE, according to NFL Spin Zone’s Lou Scataglia. Nic Scourton, who finished 2024 with 27 tackles and five sacks. Shemar Stewart, whose stats don’t particularly stand out—1.5 sacks, 14 tackles—is headed to the Black & Gold, according to SB Nation’s JP Acosta. Acosta describes Stewart as “a terrifying blend of size, burst, and blend.”
The Saints are selecting offensively in the other seven mock drafts. Tetairoa McMillan of Arizona, a wide receiver who caught 84 passes for more over 1,300 yards and eight scores in 2024, is the most well-liked of the group. According to Joe Schad of The Palm Beach Post, Dylan Chappine of Wolf Sports, and Jack Aaron of Last Word on Sports, New Orleans will select the 6’5″, 212-pound player to potentially team up with Chris Olave in the Saints receiving room.
Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports and Daniel Flick of Sports Illustrated both predict that the Saints will select a wide receiver, but they also predict that New Orleans will select Luther Burden III from Missouri. The 5’11”, 208-pound player averaged 11.1 yards per reception in his junior year after recording over 1,200 yards in his sophomore year.
Kelvin Banks, the overtime player from Texas, is helping the Saints improve their offensive line, according to Brandon Deutsch of The Sporting Tribune. New Orleans, whose offensive line was ranked 23rd in the league by Pro Football Network, could use any assistance since Ryan Ramczyk is virtually certain to retire after spending the whole previous season on the Injured Reserve.
Lastly, FantasyLife’s Thor Nystrom made the most unexpected prediction of all the mocks when he predicted that the Saints will choose Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe at nine. Nystrom thinks it would be worthwhile to blow the moon on Milroe’s upside because of the terrible salary cap position that hinders their capacity to compete effectively. While pointing out that Milroe had about 200 more pass attempts and was almost 10 percentage points more accurate than Richardson in college, he compared Milroe to Richardson.
On February 27, the 2025 NFL Combine will get underway at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. On April 24, the 2025 NFL Draft’s first round will begin in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
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