- New Orleans made three picks on Sunday, May 1 and ends the 2021 NFL Draft with six picks; with the 133rd overall pick in the fourth, they picked Notre Dame QB Ian Book. New Orleans then packaged the 218th and 229th overall picks to the Indianapolis Colts to acquire the 206th pick and used a sixth round choice to select Kentucky T Landon Young. With the 255th overall choice in the seventh round, they selected South Alabama WR Kawaan Baker.
- Overall out of the six players selected by New Orleans over the weekend, each came from a different conference affiliation; Book from Independent/Atlantic Coast Conference Notre Dame, Baker from the Sun Belt Conference, DE Payton Turner from the American Athletic Conference (Houston), Ohio State's Pete Werner from the Big Ten, Stanford's Paulson Adebo from the Pac 12 and Young from the Southeastern Conference (Kentucky).
- Young, 6-7, 321, is the fifth player ever selected by New Orleans from Kentucky. He is the first Kentucky Saints draft pick since DE Jonathan Dumbauld was selected in the tenth round (253rd overall) in 1986.
- A two-time All-SEC selection, Young was a key anchor on a Wildcats offensive line that was named semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, which recognizes the nation's most offensive line in 2019 and 2020, uplifting a program whose senior class won 37 games, the most in a five-season span since 1949-53. Young saw the vast bulk of his action at left tackle.
- Book, 6-0, 210, is the 13th player ever selected by New Orleans from Notre Dame. After New Orleans selected QB Tommy Stevens in 2020, Book's selection in 2021 marks the first time that the Saints have selected signal-callers in consecutive drafts since between the 1968-72 seasons.
- Book is the winningest quarterback in Notre Dame history (30 victories). In four seasons in South Bend, he played in 45 games and completed 728 of 1,141 attempts for 8,948 yards, 72 touchdowns and 20 interceptions, while carrying 361 times for 1,517 yards and 17 touchdowns. The two-time team captain was a Manning Award finalist his graduate/redshirt senior year in 2020, as he led the Fighting Irish into the College Football Playoff, completing 228-of-353 (64.6%) passes for 2,830 yards with 15 touchdowns and only three interceptions, while carrying 116 times for 485 yards and nine touchdowns.
- Baker, 6-1, 215, is the first player ever selected by New Orleans from South Alabama, making USA the 171st institution of higher learning that a Saint has been selected from.
- In his college career, Baker caught 126 passes for 1,829 yards (14.5 avg.) with 16 touchdowns. As a senior in 2020, the Atlanta native started all 11 contests and posted career-high totals of 51 receptions for 659 yards and eight touchdowns to be selected second-team All-Sun Belt Conference.
New Orleans Saints 2021 NFL Draft day three notes
Notes following day three of the Saints' 2021 NFL Draft
May 01, 2021 at 08:15 PM
