isn’t leaving. The Saints are merely waiting until he reaches free agency to re-sign him, so that their compensation to the Jets doesn’t increase. Vilma has said he wants to stay, and Gregg Williams has been effusive in his praise. I can’t see paying Williams the money he must have demanded, only to suddenly turn cheap when it comes time to re-sign the player he says he can build a championship defense around.

With that out of the way, the most pressing need—and again, this just happens to play perfectly into the way Williams builds his defenses—is safety. I had thought Mays would be the pick; then William Moore when Mays stayed at USC. But Moore has looked pathetic so far at the Senior Bowl practices, and Rashad Johnson from Alabama has looked like a stud. So has Louis Delmas. If they both seem like too much of a reach at 14, and Vontae Davis, Malcolm Jenkins, or D.J. Moore is still available, I’d go with them. (Alphonso Smith from Wake Forest has been impressive, too. Don’t know how far his stock may climb.)

Although we do need to upgrade our linebackers, I don’t see us doing it in this year’s first round. Especially—please, don’t give us Laurinaitis. And as for Grant and Smith, they’re signed until well into the future, so the cap hit in cutting them loose or trading them would be enormous. Besides, both of them actually played hurt much of last year; and Williams is a pretty good motivator when it comes to making underperforming starters get off their butts and work. My guess is that we’re going to make do with the same end rotation as last season, although McCray may start in place of one of them.

If you are unable to trade down in this mock, then I would take a look at risers like Peria Jerry, BJ Raji (moreso Raji as Jerry is more of an UT), Alphonso Smith, etc. as I don’t believe any safety is worth a top 15 pick, however, Rashad Johnson is making his case…
In terms of LB’s, I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Cushing and he has moved up my draft board, but 14 is a reach. If Malcolm Jenkins is available, I can’t see how we would pass him up though. Gay is better suited to nickel IMO.
Regardless of who you pick, it had better be a defensive player. Williams stresses nickel, MLB, and safety play. Take your pick, keeping in mind Vilma will return.

I get very frustrated when I see respectable mock drafts that have the Saints picking a Middle Linebacker. M.E. hit the nail on the head…The fact is Vilma has gone on record as saying he wants to stay, as have the Saints, and he understands the Saints can’t sign him ’till free agency starts without it hurting the team. All the mock drafts out there need to understand this!! AAARRGHH. :) It is a Non-Issue. Vilma will stay a Saint.

That being said, it’s Safety. I wanted to cry when Mays decided to stay, and that threw a HUGE monkey wrench into the Saints off-season. As M.E. noted above, Moore is sucking. I find it hard to believe that Jenkins will be available at 14. If he is in your draft, take him.

You or the Saints can’t go wrong in drafting any best available DB position…

If we could get a 3 for him, I’d take it and throw in a bag of magic beans. There’s NO WAY anybody would give up a 3 for him mind you, I’m just saying.

If Orakpo is around at 14 (which he won’t be) we would have to seriously consider taking him. He’s a beast and would represent serious value at 14 (I am a little biased here, admittedly – hook ’em).

I don’t know if they take a S at 14, but we’ll see how the pre-draft workouts progress. At this moment, if I had to bet on who we take a 14, I would guess CB or LB.