Five years after the New Orleans Saints finished their 2021 NFL Draft, the class still looks like a mixed bag with a few real bright spots and some picks that never came close to paying off.
At the top of the list, Payton Turner stands out for all the wrong reasons. The Saints took him with the first pick of the class, and the result has been hard to defend.
Turner couldn’t stay healthy, didn’t produce much when he was on the field, and has just five sacks in his career. He’s now trying to win a roster spot with the Detroit Lions, and the grade reflects how badly this one aged.
Grade: F
Pete Werner, by contrast, has given the Saints exactly the kind of steady return teams hope for from the middle of the draft. He’s piled up 323 tackles in his career and is expected to remain a major part of the defense in 2026. He hasn’t broken through into true star territory, but his reliability has made him a useful and important piece.
Grade: B
Paulson Adebo brought a little bit of everything during his time in New Orleans - the good, the frustrating, and the game-changing. He had his share of costly penalties and surrendered some big plays, but he also showed elite ball skills and finished with 10 career interceptions for the Saints. He later signed with the New York Giants last year, and his exit also helped New Orleans land a compensatory fourth-round pick that turned into Bryce Lance.
Grade: B+
Ian Book never really got the chance to become anything more than a footnote. He appeared in just one NFL game, starting the Saints’ Week 16 matchup against the Miami Dolphins, and has spent his time since then on the bench and on the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad. Taking a quarterback in the fourth round always carries some risk, but this one never produced much of anything.
Grade: D-
Landon Young carved out a useful role as a backup, even if he never locked down a starting job. Over four seasons with the Saints, he filled in at four spots across the offensive line, with center the lone exception, and served as a dependable stopgap when injuries hit. He’s now competing for a roster spot with the New York Jets.
Grade: C-
Kawaan Baker never found a way to make his mark on offense in the NFL. He hasn’t logged an offensive snap, isn’t currently on a roster, and has bounced around without sticking. As a late seventh-round pick, the miss isn’t devastating, but it still didn’t yield anything for New Orleans.
Grade: D
In Other News...
The Saints Moment That Made Rashid Shaheed Feel Unstoppable
Rashid Shaheeds rise in New Orleans has been built on plays that arrive fast and leave a mark, and one of the earliest came in 2022 against Atlanta. A 68-yard touchdown swing in that game captured the kind of instant-impact speed that made him stand out as a rookie, especially for a player who had already shown he could turn limited touches into points from the moment he got on the field.
Shaheed kept expanding that role in 2023, when he became a real factor as both a receiver and a special teams weapon for the Saints. His season was the kind that moved him from intriguing young piece to established contributor, which is why his injury-shortened 2024 campaign carried so much frustration for a team that had seen how dangerous he can be when healthy. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Are Already Betting Big On Tyler Shough
Tyler Shoughs rookie season gave the Saints something they had been missing: real reason to believe at quarterback. He started nine games, helped New Orleans go 5-3 in his starts and finished second in the Offensive Rookie of the Year race despite playing only about half the season, while the numbers showed a passer who was especially efficient working the middle of the field. The Saints have responded by upgrading the pieces around him, and that kind of support has already started to shape how the rest of the league views the teams direction.
New Orleans went from looking like a club stuck near the bottom of the standings to one that suddenly has momentum, and Shough is the biggest reason why. The next step is the one that matters most, because the Saints are now operating like a team that may have found its answer under center, even if Year 2 is the real test of whether that belief is justified. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Suddenly Linked To Proven Receiver Fans Have Been Waiting On
The Saints search for more help at wide receiver has put a familiar name back in the conversation, with free agent Keenan Allen emerging as a logical fit for New Orleans. Allens history with head coach Kellen Moore from their time together with the Chargers gives the idea some real footing, especially for a team looking to add a proven target who can help stabilize the offense.
Allen still has the kind of rsum that makes him attractive even as the market sorts itself out, and his production in Los Angeles showed he can still be a reliable piece when healthy. For the Saints, the appeal is obvious: Moore knows what Allen brings, and New Orleans knows it needs more certainty in its passing game, even if no signing or agreement has been reported yet. [Read more 🡒]