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Every team has met with nearly every prospect by the end of Senior Bowl week, including the New Orleans Saints. If they haven’t visited with a prospect (informally or in a sit-down interview), they will have scheduled later meetings at the NFL Scouting Combine or around school pro days before narrowing the list down to thirty top prospects to fly in ahead of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Last week I tracked which players the Saints touched base with at the East-West Shrine Game in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Saints have used the Shrine Game as a source of draft picks and undrafted free agent signings more frequently than the Senior Bowl, for whatever it’s worth.
That in mind, the Saints are very shorthanded. The coaching staff is working with the NFC Pro Bowl roster in Orlando, Florida, so it’s up to the scouting staff to handle business in Mobile, Alabama this week. I wasn’t actively stalking them, but did notice the Saints’ scouts were making an effort to canvas Ladd-Peebles Stadium this week to get eyes on each position group. They definitely seemed to be making the most of their resources.
I’ll say it one more time: prospect meetings hold little weight in evaluations, it’s just fun to track which teams are meeting with which players. So here’s what I’ve been able to dig up so far:
- DB Siran Neal, Jacksonville State - via Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com.
- DE Kylie Fitts, Utah - via Josh Katzenstein of the Times-Picayune.
- DT Greg Gilmore, LSU Tigers - via Sean Fazende of FOX 8.
- FB Nick Bawden, San Diego State Aztecs - via Jonathan Valencia of Breaking FB.
- OL Mason Cole, Michigan Wolverines - via Jonathan Valencia of Breaking FB.
- QB Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma Sooners - via Robert Klemko of Sports Illustrated.
- QB Mason Rudolph, Oklahoma State Cowboys - via Sean Fazende of FOX 8.
- RB Akrum Wadley, Iowa Hawkeyes - via Jonathan Valencia of Breaking FB.
- TE Dallas Goedert, South Dakota State Jackrabbits - via Joel Erickson of the Advocate.
As I made my way between press conferences at Senior Bowl Media Day, the following players listed the Saints as one of the teams they had scheduled interviews with:
- TE Mike Gesicki, Penn State Nittany Lions
- TE Troy Fumagalli, Wisconsin Badgers
These meetings come via Charlie Campbell of WalterFootball.com:
- G Skyler Phillips, Idaho State
- QB Mike White, Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
- DL Da’Shawn Hand, Alabama Crimson Tide
- TE Durham Smythe, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- FB Dimitri Flowers, Oklahoma Sooners
- LB Ja’Whaun Bentley, Purdue Boilermakers
- CB Taron Johnson, Weber State
- DB Marcus Allen, Penn State Nittany Lions
Bookmark this page for updates throughout the course of the week.