A conversation that needs to be had.
Every draft season, there is a heated conversation about positional value. When people bring up positional value, it tends to be in discussions about why a player may drop or rise in the draft. An example of this is the QB position.
Every year, we see QBs get drafted much higher than they should. In 2024, Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Jayden Daniels were the clear top of the draft players that made sense going there. J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix, and Bo Nix were way less of gaurentees, but they all ended up going 12.
In this draft, Fernando Mendoza is not the top player in the draft, but he will go 1. That's not a crazy thing to happen, but just because of position, Ty Simpson is getting conversations for the first round. As I said, it happens every single year.
Other positions are propped up, such as OT, WR, and EDGE, but some go the opposite way. RB, DT, iOL, SAF, and LB are all positions that tend to get dropped in rankings due to the value.
In the 2026 NFL Draft, it's a bit different. Due to much of the top-end talent not being as good as in other years and most players being in lower-valued positions, this draft is considered weak, but that is far from the truth. Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese, and SAF Caleb Downs are all players who do not play high-valued positions, but they are all game changers for whoever drafts them.
At 8, the New Orleans Saints have an excellent oppurtunity for one of these players to drop to them, but guess what conversation might be brought up if some other players are available. Let's say EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. is available at 8, but so is Styles and Downs. The Saints may view Bain Jr. as lower than the talent of the three other prospects, but selecting the EDGE may be the best choice in the end, just because of the position.
First, it needs to be said that Bain Jr. is worth the 8th overall pick, so the Saints wouldn't be reaching with their selection. But it would be the Saints going away from BPA, while also adressing other positions of need. The issue is that, as an excellent defensive lineman in the NFL, Bain Jr. will give the Saints much more success than Styles or Downs, who are excellent players in their respective positions. Also, contractually, finding a high-level edge rusher in free agency is both rare and very expensive. But with SAF and LB, it is much cheaper to sign some of the top guys.
The Saints would be ecstatic to have any of these three players on their team moving forward, but the positional value conversation may steer them in a certain direction at 8.