Saints predicted to ditch Shedeur Sanders and draft 70-TD QB in Round 2 per latest mock 

Shedeur Sanders continues to be an interesting prospect in this year's NFL draft. After initially being viewed as a top-three prospect, the Colorado quarterback's draft stock has been on a rapid decline. Some draft experts and analysts project him to fall to the second round of the draft.

The New Orleans Saints are one of the teams linked with Shedeur Sanders. They have the ninth overall pick in the first round. With the recent injury reports about their QB1, Derek Carr, there is a possibility that the team looks at Coach Prime's son as an alternative.

However, The Athletic's Dane Brugler had a different perspective on the situation. In his latest mock draft, he predicted the Saints to forego drafting a quarterback with the No. 9 overall pick. According to his mock draft, the Saints will take a quarterback in the second round. However, instead of Sanders, he projected the franchise to go with Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough instead.

Shough has been rising on the draft board over the past few weeks. During his seven-season collegiate stint, he recorded 7,820 passing yards and 70 total touchdowns. Last season, he helped the Cardinals to a 9-4 campaign while tallying 3,195 yards and 23 TDs passing.

Last Friday, Shough visited the Saints ahead of the draft, indicating their interest in him. However, if they do decide to go the non-quarterback route with the No. 9 pick, the Saints might miss out on the opportunity to get Shough.

Burgler linked Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan as the ideal candidate for the team in the first round. He believes that despite their requirement in the quarterback department after Carr's injury, they would not dismiss the need to upgrade their WR depth chart.

"Is this a quarterback landing spot? And if so, which one? New Orleans hasn't drafted a first-round quarterback in 53 years, (Archie Manning in 1971), but anything is possible with the recent Derek Carr injury news. However, I'm not sold that the Saints love their options here, so in this scenario they opt to upgrade the receiver depth chart," Brugler wrote via TheAthletic.com.

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Draft analyst Mel Kiper believes Saints are the best landing spot for Shedeur Sanders

If Shedeur Sanders falls below the top five, then, according to draft analyst Mel Kiper, the Saints could be the ideal landing spot for the Colorado quarterback. On Monday's episode of ESPN's "First Draft", he spoke about this potential situation during the draft this month.

"Saints have been interesting this month," Kiper said. "Now they're interesting because even with Derek Carr, they are going to look at a quarterback. Back in the day, they had Jaxson Dart going there right, in one of my mock early on, and I had Shedeur Sanders going there in this terms of mock- the 3.0, 4.0."

(from 14:08 mark onwards)

Head coach Kellen Moore has to make an important decision regarding who will be the team's QB1 for the upcoming season. If they decide to look past Shedeur Sanders, then it will be interesting to see what strategy they implement to decide who will start under center next season.