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Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr. (4) sacks Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed (10) in the second half of the first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff at Kyle Field at College Station, Texas, on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for finally making it out of salary cap hell. This offseason, they managed to sign a bunch of new free agents and didn’t even have to use void years! Now, they must start hitting on their draft picks again if they want to compete in a volatile NFC South.
As you may have guessed, the Saints are up next in our 2026 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft, where commenters act as team general managers. The Saints general manager in this year’s mock is commenter GA_Lionsfan.
Before we get into their pick, here’s a look at the first seven picks in the mock:
- Raiders: QB Fernando Mendoza
- Jets: EDGE Arvell Reese
- Cardinals: EDGE David Bailey
- Titans: RB Jeremiyah Love
- Giants: WR Carnell Tate
- Browns: OT Monroe Freeling
- Commanders: WR Makai Lemon
With the eighth pick in the 2026 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft, the New Orleans Saints select Rueben Bain, edge defender out of Miami.
Here’s GA_Lionsfan explaining the pick:
About a decade ago, the Saints started manipulating their cap by kicking the can down the road to try and win another Super Bowl before Drew Brees retired. It resulted in four straight division titles from 2017-2020, but they never reached the Super Bowl. Brees retired following the 2020 season and the Saints went into cap purgatory – they had player contracts that they couldn’t move on from and do a complete reset, but also didn’t have the cap space to add an impact player to be a real contender. This year they have not only been released from purgatory but also seem to have found their QB of the future – now it’s time to build around him.
They added Travis Etienne this offseason and have spent their last two first round picks on offensive tackles, so the only realistic offensive option for them at 8 is a wide receiver. However, with the way the board fell, they will need to focus on helping the defense and look to add pieces to their offense in later rounds.
The best player on the board is Rueben Bain and he’s an easy choice for the Saints. Let’s address the elephant (or maybe more aptly put – the T-Rex) in the room – Bain has short arms. If he won with length, it would be a concern, but he wins with power and technique, which should translate to NFL success. If his arm length wasn’t a concern, he would have easily been drafted already. Last season, everyone saw what kind of consistent impact he can have on the game. That’s exactly the type of player the Saints need as they finally put the Brees-era players behind them and transition to the next era of players.
McLaurin draws bracket or even double coverage, Lemon finds the soft spot underneath, and Daniels gets a safety valve who wins at every level of the route tree. A perfect addition for a rookie OC trying to get things back on track in Washington.
Time to grade the pick. Vote in the poll below and share your expanded thoughts in the comment section:
