2026 New Orleans Saints NFL Mock Draft – More Needs Than Answers
The New Orleans Saints are dealing with the repercussions of Mickey Loomis trying to keep this team competitive for too long. They’re spending a weird amount of money on a 35-year-old gadget player, their line on both sides of the ball has been a letdown, and they need a serious course adjustment to compete in the NFC South. This Saints mock draft can get them started on the right course, but there are still needs all over this team.
2026 New Orleans Saints NFL Mock Draft – More Needs Than Answers
Round 1 – Fernando Mendoza, Indiana Hoosiers Quarterback
Mendoza is QB1, and it’s really a two or three-man race at this point. Despite early showings from Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough, the organization needs someone to rally around. Mendoza can make the pieces around him look better than they are, and can navigate a pocket even when it’s falling apart around him. Two things the Saints need in their next signal caller.
The Case for Fernando Mendoza as QB1
Round 2 – Olaivavega Ioane, Penn State Guard
A 6’4″, 328-pound people mover. Ioane can immediately improve the passing game with a steady presence on the inside, and he shows flashes of a difference maker in the run game. He’s a meat-and-potatoes player the Saints need to try to shore up some of their offensive deficiencies.
Round 3 – Trevor Goosby, Texas Left Tackle
Goosby has some flexibility after rotating between left and right tackle as a redshirt freshman, and he has exactly the frame you want in a tackle prospect. 6’7″, 312 pounds, and surprisingly light on his feet for a big fella. His biggest issue will be his pad height on run blocking plays, but you can live with that from an athletic freak with limited starting experience. He wouldn’t start for the team right away, but he can provide flexibility at either tackle and has the upside to be the best player on their line in a couple of years.
Round 4 – Hollywood Smothers, NC State Running Back
Kendre Miller has been a disappointment, and Devin Neal is more of a grinder than a playmaker. With Alvin Kamara starting to show signs of slowing down, a late, cheap option at running back can provide some excitement for the offense. Stacking one side of the ball with playmakers can help the team build an identity, something the Saints have lacked for years.
Round 5 – David Oke, Arkansas Interior Defensive Lineman
Oke is stout, strong, and a tone-setter on run downs. Will he ever get more than five sacks in a season? Probably not. But he can rotate in on rushing downs and make an impact in short-yardage situations, which is the kind of role player that teams hope to find in the later rounds of drafts.
Round 6 – Jayce Brown, Kansas State Wide Receiver
With Rashid Shaheed an unrestricted free agent in 2026, the Saints might need another deep threat on the outside. Brown offers plenty of speed on the outside and can help give Mendoza another option than Olave and Juwan Johnson.
Browns Could Prioritize Projected $59 Million Move on Breakout Star
For the Browns, the confluence of the Week 9 bye week and the coming trade deadline on Tuesday gives the team ample time to shut down and figure out where, exactly, it should head next. We know Myles Garrett isn’t being traded, but for a 2-6 team that needs something of an overhaul, it’s fair to assume someone will be on the move.
One player who has been the subject of speculation is Alex Wright, the standout defensive end who began showing signs of coming into his own before he was injured in 2024 with a torn triceps, but who has continued to improve this year. Wright has 3.0 sacks, just two off his career high, and has already set a career high with nine tackles for a loss.
He is a pending free agent, which puts him on the trade block for the Browns, but at 25 and showing signs of working well in tandem with Garrett, he is also showing himself to be a piece to build around.
Alex Wright Could Get a $59 Million Deal From Browns
Wright’s projected extension value, per Spotrac, comes in at $14.8 million per year. That’s $59 million for a four-year deal, which would be reasonable if he continues to blossom the way he has this year.
In looking at the Browns’ trade deadline posture this week, The Athletic noted that Wright’s future might be tied to that of Isaiah McGuire: “The Browns might want to keep and eventually extend Wright. … But defensive end Isaiah McGuire is still under contract through 2026, and assuming Myles Garrett remains in the long-term plans, the team probably has to choose between Wright and McGuire at some point fairly soon.
“If a market for pass-rush help develops over the next week, the Browns can try to get something semi-significant for Wright. If they don’t trade Wright, they can eventually sign him to an extension.”
Browns Should Prioritize a Deal
If the Browns do not extend Wright, who was a third-round pick from Alabama-Birmingham in 2022, they could hold him and either re-sign him in free agency or hope that he gets a big enough deal elsewhere to warrant a significant compensatory draft pick.
But it shouldn’t come to that. At Dawgs By Nature, SB Nation’s Browns site, Matthew Wilson writes that Wright should be the top extension priority for Cleveland.
He noted: “As we’ve seen over the past few weeks, Wright is dominant at the point of attack against the run and has a surprising amount of ‘wiggle’ as a pass rusher. He’s a key rotational player both inside and out along the defensive line for Cleveland, and they must get him locked up for the future.”
Alex Wright: ‘I Know What I Can Do’
To Wright’s credit, he has avoided putting too much emphasis on showing off his individual improvement and instead has just focused on helping the Browns’ top-flight pass rush take off. That, he said before the season, was to be his focus.
“If I focus on the important year, ‘it’s important, it’s important,’ then I’m not going to do what I need to do,” he said. “So I’m just trying to stay positive, stay focused and just maintain preparation and just keep up with a new routine that I have. I don’t really try to dwell on this is an important year, this is the last year.
“At the end of the day, I know what I can do. I know what I bring to the table and obviously I’m ready to put it out there. It’s an important year, but I don’t want to add that with the loud noise, if that makes sense.”
He’s held up his end of the bargain. It remains to be seen whether the Browns will hold up theirs.
