Depth of the 2026 Draft class: 3 positions the Saints must get

Texas Tech's Caleb Douglas goes through a drill as the Red Raiders practice ahead of the Orange Bowl College Football Playoff game, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, at the Womble Football Center. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When draft time comes around, the hyped up positions that people believe are great in every round end up being not as good, and the underrated positions are actually the ones with the best depth. The excellent aspect of a position with talented depth in the draft is that you can find gems throughout. Think about the 2025 draft and the RBs. The New Orleans Saints needed to draft an RB, but even if they didn’t, signing one later would have been a smart move. This was also one of the reasons Devin Neal ended up falling in the draft. It wasn’t because of his talent; it was because of the RB depth in the class.

The 2026 draft is considered a weaker class by many, and although that is true in some respects, some positions remain extremely deep.

WR

If you have followed the draft at all, you may know how good this WR class is. Realistically, it feels like every year going forward will have a good WR group, but this year stands out. Every single round in this year’s NFL draft will have multiple WRs go, and each has the chance to be a contributor on offense right away, potentially becoming at least a great starter in the NFL.

For the Saints, what really stands out with the depth of the WR class is day 2. Given the number of options the Saints can go with in rounds 2 or 3, New Orleans does not need to rush selecting one in the first round. In round 2, Chris Bell, Germie Bernard, and Antonio Williams are just some of the names that could be available at pick 42, and each (including the ones I did not name) can be WR 2 right away on this roster. For the third round, Ted Hurst, Elijah Sarratt, Skyler Bell, and Bryce Lance are standouts.

CB

When I mentioned that an underrated position has slowly become a strenght of the class, I was hinting towards the 2026 CB group. Many believed the top-end talent had issues and may not have been good enough to make the top 10, but now Mansoor Delane and Jermod McCoy both have a chance of doing just that.

Focusing more on the depth, the Saints will have some options to go with at each of their selections in this year’s class. The Saints need ot focus on improving their depth in this position, and if there is a CB that has dropped a bit, for example, Brandon Cisse, selecting them at 42 may be a likely outcome. If that does not happen, the Saints can wait until round 3 or day 3 to get a good CB3 to develop and contribute on special teams.

The name that stands out as an option is Charles Demmings, who is currently projected to go in the 4th round. He was at the Senior Bowl, and the Saints worked him out during this draft process.

TE

For the last position, we are going back to offense, this time, the TE position. Compared to WR, the depth is not as good, but it’s still a standout of the draft. Where it really shines is it’s late day 3/early day 4 options. Players like Michael Trigg, Justin Jolly, Sam Roush, and Eli Rarididon lead the pack, and each can become impact starters in the NFL.

Although the TE group in this year’s class is really good, there’s a chance a run on this position could remove the depth being a strenght. Let’s say 4 TEs that many believe are going in round 4 end up going in round 3. That would remove many later options that make this class’s depth great.