With the 24th pick of Pride of Detroit's 2011 NFL Mock Draft, the New Orleans Saints select Miami (FL) cornerback Brandon Harris. Davis0169 is serving as the Saints' general manager, and his reasoning for the pick is below.
The N.O. Saints have many needs, especially up front. Last year they finished the season with the 29th ranked defense. They finished 17th against the run and added some beef up front with the former Lion Shaun Rogers. Even with Rogers, who I believe is nothing more than a stop gap at the DT position, they could use some help on the pass rush. The Saints finished the year at 29th against the pass last year. And after watching that horrible playoff game against the Seahawks, who did just about anything they wanted to against the Saints, I know who my pick has to be.
Harris is going to step in and be a corner stone opposite of last year's top draft pick, Patrick Robinson. This was truly a hard decision because Brooks Reed and Justin Houston are just sitting there, begging me to add them to this roster. A LB would have been nice but all that's left is Ayers, and in almost every mock I've read the majority of them seem to think that he will only excel in a 3-4 system because his only strong point is rushing the QB (sorry det32, he just isn't a 4-3 type of LB). With Harris you get a CB that has some mixed reviews but most say the same things: WRs have a hard time getting separation from Harris, and according to Deion Sanders, this guy can just ball. Coming from an ex-Florida State guy, you know it had to just kill him to say something positive about a Hurricane.
Harris is a great prospect who is 5'10" around 194 lbs. He has some speed, running his 40-yard dash at the combine in 4.43 seconds. He plays with swagger, something that was missing last year, and Harris is a great CB when you are looking for one that can play against the run. Last year at Miami he broke up 15 passes and had 6 tackles for loss. To me this is the safest pick I could make for the Saints.
Well there you go; guys have at it, and pick this apart if you will. Oh, one last thing: I got a special THANK YOU to the 2 GMs that took Kerrigan and Clayborn three and four picks in front of me.
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Check out the 2011 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft tracker for a look at all of the picks.