Saints select Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. with their first-round pick at 9th overall in 2025 NFL Draft.
— The New Orleans Saints selected Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. with the No. 9 overall pick in the NFL draft Thursday night.
Banks joined New Orleans one day after general manager Mickey Loomis said the Saints would not be picking up a fifth-year option on right tackle Trevor Penning, a 2022 late first-rounder who now enters his final season under contract.
The 6-foot-5, 315-pound Banks, who won the 2024 Outland Trophy as the top lineman in college football, will be expected to compete right away for a starting role — if not at tackle then possibly at guard.
This is the second year in a row the Saints have used their first-round choice on an offensive tackle after taking Taliese Fuaga, who started at left tackle as a rookie last season. The Saints also have used their top draft pick on an offensive lineman four times since 2019, when they selected center Erik McCoy early in the second round.
New Orleans selected interior lineman Cesar Ruiz in the first round in 2020. Penning was New Orleans’ second of two first-round picks in 2022.
But Banks is the first player to be chosen by the Saints under Moore, who is coming off a Super Bowl championship with Philadelphia as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator.
The Saints also entered the draft with one second-round selection (40th overall), two in the third round (71st and 93rd), two in the fourth (112th and 131st), one in the sixth and two in the seventh.
The second round begins Friday night, when the Saints will hope to draft some instant contributors as they try to bounce back from a 5-12 record, their worst since going 3-13 in 2005.
____
0 Comments