It's a lot like last year

The Saints' 2007 draft class, that is. Minus the ridiculous hype associated with the name, Reggie Bush, it's exactly like last year's draft in that the picks are exceedingly difficult to judge beyond round 1.

Indeed there is always an element of folly involved in assessing NFL draft choices until the players have at least half a season under their belts. In many cases the jury remains out far longer than that. For example, can anyone say with any certainty whether Green Bay's 2005 first-round choice of Aaron Rodgers has panned out yet? The Saints spent two seasons waiting for Cie Grant to get on the field. He never did, but until he was released he wasn't exactly a "bust" in the traditional sense.

Furthermore, once game experience allows professional football players to be judged on their accomplishments rather than their potential, the resulting hierarchy bears comically little resemblance to the order in which these players were originally drafted. (See.. for example the unglorious draft positions of Jerry Rice, Thurman Thomas, Dan Marino.... Marques Colston.. along with practically the entire history of the league for that matter.)

Every football fan knows this. And yet every year there is a massive rush to judge every team's draft performance the very next day... typically in the form of letter grades or four-star ratings. For such analysis of yesterday's minting of the new football players see here here and here... and the remaining entirety of the internet.

But the only grade I can dispense at this point is an incomplete. Last season's Saints draft class (despite the overrated Reggie Bush) proved itself quite solid as one after another unexpected contribution emerged from the mid and late round selections. In fact, should Rob Ninkovich and Roman Harper rebound from their injuries to become productive players, 2006 can be counted among the Saints' best draft classes ever. But no one could have known what to expect from that group until well into the season. The same statement can be applied to the 2007 bunch.

What we can say is that the Saints (probably) made the right pick in round 1 going for Robert Meachem. The best strategy in the first round is to take the best potential impact player available regardless of position. This has worked well for the Saints in the past most notably when they drafted Deuce McAllister despite already having Ricky Williams on the roster and of course last year when they drafted Bush despite.. already knowing how to fumble in the last two minutes of a playoff game.

This is not to say that the roster will be too crowded for Meachem to fit in. With the release of Joe Horn, the Saints were left with Colston who.. after missing time last year..has less than a full season under his belt, Devery Henderson who isn't as consistent as you would like a starter to be, David Patten who may be playing out the string in his journeyman career and Terrance Copper who is... well.. Terrance Copper. So adding yet another potential weapon to the league's most prolific offense still makes sense. The only red flag associated with this pick involves the words "Wide Receiver" and "Tennessee" which should be enough to make Saints fans worry just a little for good reason.

As for the rest of these guys, well.. who the hell knows? The Saints repeated last year's trick of pursuing lesser-known players from small college programs. This could either mean that they are privy to scouting techniques superior to all 31 rival NFL organizations... or it could mean that they're just incredibly smug about their scouting and see the draft as an opportunity to show off. While it's possible that neither of these explanations is accurate... let's hope it's not that second bit.

Outside of the fact that the Saints traded up to pick a running back, the selections make intuitive sense. They needed corners and o-line depth. We can't complain about or praise any of this until the players get on the field. It is kind of fun that they picked a guy named Usama. Should Usama Young, a defensive back, crack the starting lineup at some point, will he.. terrorize opposing offenses? Will they have to game plan to throw the ball to one side of the field (over there) so that they don't have to throw it at Young's side (over here)? Valid questions.. but I'm afraid they won't be answered until much much later. In the meantime.. feel free to grade away. Whatever "letter grades" you hand out can't be any more meaningless than what's sitting on anyone's high school transcript anyway.