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Saints land LSU TE Mason Taylor in four-round mock draft

03/24/2025
Mason Taylor

By Ross Jackson

After another wave of free agency has cleared, the New Orleans Saints still have some holes on their roster to address. A starting cornerback and starting left guard appear chief among them. Assuming the team lands a new starter on its offensive line, as evidenced by their recent visit with former Tennessee Titans lineman Dillon Radunz, the Saints could walk into the 2025 NFL Draft with a unique combination of wants rather than needs.

This mock draft is aimed at exactly that: four rounds of the team drafting good players they should be interested in after filling their last remaining hole on offense at left guard. Accompany this mock with the signing of Radunz or another starting caliber lineman like Will Hernandez in order to help solidify the trenches.

Round 1, Pick 9 – Marshall EDGE Mike Green

A small school edge rusher first-round pick has been far from uncommon for the Saints. The difference here is that Green is proven, productive, and matches the more successful edge rushers of today’s game in size and speed.

At 6-foot-3 and 251 pounds, the 17-sack phenom from Marshall is a bona fide first-round talent that could have an immediate impact in rotation with ends Chase Young and Carl Granderson. New defensive coordinator Brandon Staley is sure to deploy more standup edge rushers, and Green is the perfect fit.

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Round 2, Pick 40 – East Carolina CB Shavon Revel

Revel is recovering from an ACL injury that ended his 2024 campaign far too early, but all indications are that he will have recovered in time for training camps. The injury took place just three games into the year, allowing an extended recovery period.

The East Carolina cornerback is a fast, high-IQ, ballhawking defender that fits multiple schemes. But his size and physicality make him a great option in a man-heavy scheme. Staley’s defenses usually roll out a lot of pattern matching rules which allow zone coverage to switch to man after reading the releases of the route-runners. Both his smarts and physicality would help Revel excel in such a system.

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Revel did not participate in Combine drills.

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Round 3, Pick 71 – LSU TE Mason Taylor

Mason Taylor: the perfect all-around tight end for head coach Kellen Moore’s system. The Saints re-invested in the position once already this offseason with a three-year contract extension for Juwan Johnson. But two other tight ends, Foster Moreau and Taysom Hill, are coming off of injury, and the rest of the position group is unproven.

Taylor would be a solid receiving and blocking option to pair with Johnson until Moreau and Hill are healthy and ready to go. Then, Taylor and Johnson could become the team’s top tight end duo following 2025 as several contracts are currently set to expire after the year. Taylor would allow the team to transition to the future of its position with a year of NFL experience already under his belt. This draft class’s tight end talent is too good to not swing at one prospect.

The experience Taylor provides as a versatile tight end that can move around is another big plus to his game. Along with being a reliable blocker, he took snaps in-line (480), from the slot (319) and out wide (54) in 2024.

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Taylor did not participate in Combine workouts, but looked great in on-field drills.

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Round 3, Pick 93 – UCF RB R.J. Harvey

Harvey may be smaller than some running backs, but he certainly doesn’t play like it. He has the force to run through a tackler, understands how to win leverage, provides great speed and vision for the position and has a fighter’s mentality that complements his game well.

As a runner or pass-catcher, Harvey can contribute. As a complement to running back Alvin Kamara, Harvey could return a lot of juice to the Saints’ backfield.

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Round 4, Pick 112 – Oregon LB Jeffrey Bassa

A former safety, Bassa has excellent athleticism, speed and coverage ability for the linebacker position. He’s a bit undersized, but that never seems to make him avoid contact. When that contact is made, he tends to make the stop as well with only a 9.6% missed tackle rate in 2024.

New Orleans will be in need of more coverage ability at linebacker in the future, and there are some developmental options worth considering around this area of the draft, Bassa included. The Oregon Duck is also a vocal leader, a “rah-rah guy” as they are often called. The Saints have a bunch of players that choose to lead by example instead, but the vocal “rah-rahs” are vital to a team’s success.

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Round 4, Pick 131 – Nebraska WR Isaiah Neyor

An underrated name in this year’s wide receiver class, Neyor is a perfect height/weight/speed prospect. He needs to perform up to his size a bit more when it comes to 50-50 balls and contested catch opportunities (just 29.7% in 2024), but if he can boost that element of the game, he could become a reliable red zone option and big-bodied receiving addition next to Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed and Brandin Cooks.

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