By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
The New Orleans Saints will select in the first round of the NFL Draft Thursday night for the 60th time in their history.
Six of the first round picks have come from Ohio State. Four have come from Georgia and Texas. Three have come from Clemson. Two have come from Alabama, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, California, Colorado, Tennessee, Louisville, Oregon State and USC.
One has come from Xavier, Texas Southern, Purdue, Maryland, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, BYU, Pittsburgh, Arkansas, West Virginia, Indiana, Louisiana Tech, Oklahoma, Washington State, Oregon, Stanford, San Diego State, Florida State, Wisconsin, Texas-San Antonio, Michigan, Houston and Northern Iowa for a total of 59.
None have come from LSU, which is 76 miles away from the Saints’ practice facility in Metairie. And LSU has had 53 first round selections in the NFL Draft, which began in 1944 with LSU running back Steve Van Buren going as the fifth pick of the first round to Philadelphia.
History could be made on Thursday (7 p.m., NFL Network, ESPN, ABC) when the Saints could take LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane with the eighth pick of the first round.
Up to this point, the LSU player closest to being taken in the first round by the Saints was running back Dalton Hilliard with the fourth pick of the second round at No. 31 overall in 1986. And there was wide receiver Devery Henderson, who went to the Saints in the second round as the No. 50 pick overall in 2004 off LSU’s national championship team.
Delane, a transfer to LSU after the 2024 season from Virginia Tech, is projected as a top 10 pick and as the first cornerback to be taken.
The Saints need a cornerback as Alontae Taylor signed after last season with Tennessee.
“I have him going to the Saints with the eighth pick,” NFL Draft expert Mike Detillier of WWL Radio in New Orleans said on Tiger Rag Radio Tuesday night.
“His-STORY,” Detiller said. “You lose Alontae Taylor to free agency, who was a big part of the Saints’ defense. Mansoor can play out wide. He is such a smooth athlete who is technically sound.”
After Delane, the next selection from LSU will likely be quarterback Garrett Nussmeier in the second or third round as the third quarterback taken overall behind Indiana national champion Fernando Mendoza first by the Las Vegas Raiders and Alabama’s Ty Simpson in the late first round.
“Garrett has a chance to go in round two, and he is my No. 3 quarterback in this draft,” Detillier said. “You got back to that 2024 tape and see just how good he was with his accuracy and skills. He could be erratic, but man he can hum it down the field. Took a lot of chances, has some riverboat gambler in him. But a lot of teams like that understands this game. And you can’t teach accuracy.”
In 2024 as a junior at LSU, Nussmeier was seen as a top 10 first round draft pick as he finished No. 5 in the country with 4,052 passing yards and sixth with 311.7 yards a game and 10th with 29 touchdowns. His efficiency numbers were not great as he completed 337 of 525 (64 percent) for a 142.7 efficiency rating that was No. 42 in the country, mainly because of 12 interceptions.
Before the 2025 season, however, Nussmeier suffered an abdomen injury that badly affected his throwing and his mechanics.
The Garrett Nussmeier Injury Mystery. Was it a mistaken diagnosis?https://t.co/ZXGywte4ro
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) January 30, 2026
He played in pain, though, and he was obviously a different quarterback. In nine games before calling it a season after aggravating the injury, he still completed 194 of 288 passes for 67.4 percent and 1,927 yards with 12 touchdowns and five interceptions for a 133.8 efficiency rating. He threw for only 214 yards a game, though, which was a far cry from his numbers in 2024 when healthy.
“You can’t teach accuracy,” Detillier said. “Either you have it or you don’t, and he’s got that.”
Even when he was hurt, Nussmeier still managed to be accurate through the pain at times. At other times, he threw wounded ducks.
After seeing a different doctor outside of LSU after last season, Nussmeier said he got a more accurate diagnosis. And while at the NFL Combine, still another doctor said the abdomen injury originated from a cyst on his spine. That story broke just this week.
Anybody out there still think Garrett Nussmeier’s abdomen injury originated from his head?https://t.co/YvoL0KRz17
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) April 20, 2026
But he proved his injury is behind him now at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, last January and at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis in February.
“He won the postseason, as bad as things were during the season,” Detillier said. “Him being able to come back and play at the Senior Bowl, where I thought he really looked good, and throwing at the Combine and in his individual sessions, he won the second season. He put himself in a position to certainly be a top 75 pick in the draft.”
Among LSU’s other draft hopefuls, Detillier sees LSU wide receivers Barion Brown and Aaron Anderson going in the second or third rounds and linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. in the third or fourth of the seven-round draft.
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