The New Orleans Saints waited patiently to hire their new head coach Kellen Moore as his Philadelphia Eagles dominated their way to a win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. One of the biggest pieces of the Philadelphia Super Bowl run was Saquon Barkley, the superstar running back who wound up in the NFL MVP conversation after running for over 2,000 yards this past season.
Moore obviously is going to want to duplicate the success he just had in Philadelphia as quickly as he possibly can in New Orleans. While there may not be a Saquon Barkley available this offseason, there's certainly an Ashton Jeanty. Most folks have the Heisman candidate and superstar running back out of Boise State. going as high as 6th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft to the Las Vegas Raiders, but what if the Raiders go a different direction and leave Jeanty on the board?
Could the Saints really be the next most likely destination for him?
Saints could make shocking Ashton Jeanty pick in 2025 NFL Draft
Saints are looking hard at running backs
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) March 27, 2025
Presented by Matt Bowers Auto Group pic.twitter.com/JJLhF7QbUN
You might think to yourself, "Hey, the Saints already have a running back. Did something happen to Alvin Kamara? Didn't the Saints just re-sign him?"
Those are valid points. Nothing happened to Kamara, and the Saints did just re-sign him last year, but they could still view Jeanty as the best player on the board at 9th overall and a true game-changer for their offense. As good as Kamara has been in his NFL career, he has shockingly never run for over 1,000 yards and has seemingly always worked best in a tandem backfield.
Even if Kamara is going to be featured in Moore's offense, a player like Jeanty could be a much bigger jolt for their offense than anyone seems to realize.
With the way Moore was able to utilize Saquon Barkley last year in Philadelphia, the idea of him getting his hands on the best back in the 2025 NFL Draft class is enticing, to say the least.
Saints running backs coach Joel Thomas reportedly hosted Jeanty for a dinner after his pro day recently. The Saints have been keeping in close contact with Jeanty who is widely expected to be off the board in the top 10 picks overall.
Right now, it seems like Jeanty's ceiling in the 2025 NFL Draft could be 5th overall to the Jaguars and his floor would seem to be 10th overall to the Chicago Bears. If he lasts past the 10th overall pick, it might be the shock of the first round. The running back position has seen a huge elevation in overall value in the last couple of years and Jeanty is both a special player and a clean prospect.
And he could soon be bound for New Orleans in what would be a rather shocking turn of events.