Unpacking the Saints' 2021 Draft with Mike Detillier

Black and Gold Rush

The New Orleans Saints selected DE Payton Turner, LB Pete Werner, CB Paulson Adebo, QB Ian Book, OT Landon Young and WR Kawaan Baker in the 2021 NFL Draft. Analyst Mike Detillier joins host Rachel Jones to take you inside the Saints' draft blueprint for intelligent and instinctive players on this week's episode of Black and Gold Rush.

Detillier, an engineer by trade, discusses how each player's skills will translate to the NFL and describes the process behind his annual draft report that he's published for 36 years.

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes that will highlight each of the six newest Saints individually!

LISTEN FOR THESE QUOTES

(8:40) "Buddy Diliberto had the best line for me - 'Don't ever be afraid to be wrong, Mike.'"

(10:27) "I'm old enough now to have a little granddaughter, and she tells me, 'Pop, you still working on that book?' So you know you put some hours in when the little granddaughter tells you that. I would say out of 365 days a year, I work on it about 350."

(11:46) "That's the biggest misconception about the draft, that everybody has the same thoughts. All 32 teams have different thoughts."

(13:01) on Payton Turner - "surprised me ... why I dropped him was he was never dominant in that conference, and secondly is the most important thing, injuries. They may kick him inside to defensive tackle. I just hope he can stay healthy."

(17:37) on Ian Book "mental makeup, toughness ... (Sean Payton) being a quarterback understands about a guy being tough, being a leader, and being a winner ... he's gonna come up with a package to get Ian Book involved."

(24:10) on Pete Werner "He's good against the run, he's good in pass coverage, he runs the field well, he's a good open field tackler, and he makes it up with the intangibles. He understands this game at another level ... in year 2, he'll probably be a starter for this football team."

(27:06) on Paulson Adebo "He's got the best shot of all the rookies to see what I would call significant playing time because the Saints are paper thin at cornerback ... He needs a little bit of work technically, but when the ball is in the air, he thinks it's his."

(30:32) on Landon Young "Landon was probably one of the top 3 tackle prospects in the country when he came out of [high school] ... They don't throw the ball much at Kentucky, so you know right off the bat what he's gonna have to work on - pass blocking. I don't think he's an inside player."

(33:42) on Kawaan Baker "He has a tendency to catch the ball up against his body. I don't think he gets picked without that pro day. I think his pro day got him picked."

(36:30) Random Round

CONNECT WITH US / LINKS MENTIONED

Mike Detillier Twitter

MikeDetillier.com

Rachel Jones Twitter

Rachel Jones Instagram

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