NFL Mock Draft: Saints select Alvin Kamara Complement, Successor In Round 1

The New Orleans Saints struggled in 2024. The bad news is they put together a season to forget. The good news is they landed a top ten pick in the NFL Draft because of this horrid season.

USA Today's Adam Stites recently predicted the Saints would use this first-round pick to select Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. Jeanty would work as a complementary back with Alvin Kamara before eventually taking over for the veteran running back.

"The assumption seems to be that Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who has ridden Saquon Barkley to Super Bowl LIX, is set to take over in New Orleans," Stites wrote. "With quarterback options slim, why not try to replicate that formula by adding the draft's most exciting running back to the Saints offense?"

A lot of experts don't recommend drafting running backs in the first round. Running backs typically have short shelf lives and they're typically not a huge contributing factor to Super Bowl wins. Teams find budget running backs later in the draft all the time.

But Jeanty is just different.

He posted the best college running back season since the great Barry Sanders dominated college students in the 1980s. Adding Jeanty to a backfield with Kamara would be a huge addition to the Saints' offense.

If the Saints land Kellen Moore as their next head coach, this selection would make even more sense. Moore, the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, has relied heavily on Saquon Barkley to carry the Eagles to where they're at. It's obvious a talented running back is a huge piece of Moore's offense and Jeanty would join Kamara is a very dangerous Saints backfield.