Bryan Bresee checked all the boxes for the New Orleans Saints.
To a T, he fit the profile of a Saints draft pick in the Jeff Ireland era.
He’s big. He’s strong. He’s athletic. And he possesses the intangibles – maturity, leadership, work ethic and mental toughness – the Saints value in their prospects, especially in their high draft picks.
The only reason I didn't pick him in our annual Saints mock draft was because I never thought he would fall to No. 29 in Round 1.
I included him in my Saints Kinda Guys list, but underplayed his profile because he was projected as a top 20 prospect. I knew the Saints liked him. But I figured the only way they would be able acquire him would be via a trade into the top 20 selections.
When general manager Mickey Loomis stated Wednesday that the Saints would only have the ammunition to move up "a couple of spots" in Round 1 because of their limited draft capital, I assumed top defensive line prospects like Bresee, Jalen Carter, Lukas Van Ness and Tyree Wilson would be off the board by No. 29. They all were. Except Bresee, which was a surprise.
Turns out, the Saints didn’t have to make a move. For once, the draft fell their way. Three quarterbacks were selected in the top four picks. Four defensive backs and two running backs went high. When a run of four wide receivers went off the board from Nos. 20 to 23. Bresee fell right into the Saints’ laps.
Some reasons why the selection of Bresee made so much sense for the Saints:
He fits their prototype
The Saints believe strongly in prototypes. The physical thresholds the club has established for the defensive tackle position are: height, 6-3; weight, 300 pounds; 40 time, 5.06 seconds.
At 6-5, 298 pounds with 4.86 speed in the 40, Bresee fits the profile the Saints week in an interior defensive lineman, especially at the three-technique position he plays. His Relative Athletic Score of 9.61 ranked fourth among all defensive tackles in the draft.
The RAS is a metric that calculates a player's NFL combine measurables — height, weight, wingspan, hand size, athletic drill results — and boils them down into one number, on a scale of 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest).
Since Ireland took over the Saints' draft full-time in 2016, the average RAS for the Saints' drafted players is 8.31. No Saints’ first-round pick has had a relative athletic score below 8.5.
He fills a major need
Pass rush is a concern for the Saints.
The Saints posted the lowest pass rush win rate (4.9%) from the interior defensive line of any team in the NFL last season, according to ESPN Stats and Info. And their two leading interior pass rushers from 2022 -- David Onyemata (5 sacks) and Kentavius Street (3.5) -- are gone.
Their overall advanced pass-rush metrics — hurries (29th), knockdowns (29th) and pressures (30th) — ranked near the bottom of the league.
Bresee is not an elite pass rusher, but his elite athleticism should allow the Saints to use him in stunts and twists to create mismatches in Dennis Allen's exotic pressure packages.
The Saints are big on big men
The Saints place a premium on big, athletic linemen. They've always prescribed to the scouting theory that God only made so many athletic big men.
The selection of Bresee marks the fourth consecutive year and the eighth time in nine seasons that the Saints have selected either an offensive or defensive lineman in the first round.
Since college scouting director Jeff Ireland took the reins of the NFL Draft in 2015, the Saints have selected 11 players in the first round. Eight of them – Bresee; Trevor Penning (2022); Payton Turner (2021); Cesar Ruiz (2020); Marcus Davenport (2018); Ryan Ramczyk (2017); Sheldon Rankins (2016); and Andrus Peat (2015) – have been offensive or defensive linemen. And in 2019, the one year they didn’t have a first-round pick, they selected center Erik McCoy in the second round.
He played at a high-level program
The Saints loves players from elite programs like Clemson.
Ireland's track record speaks for itself: Of the 49 players selected by the Saints since 2015, 34 have come from Power 5 schools and Notre Dame, including 20 of the club’s 26 first- and second-day draft picks.
The Saints value players from elite programs because of the competitive environments they foster. Not only did Bresee face elite competition on a weekly basis in their conferences, but also on a daily basis in practice. At Clemson, Bresee practiced against five- and four-star offensive linemen like Walker Parks, Marcus Tate and Tristan Lee, guys who likely will be playing on Sundays in the future.
Similarly, the Saints know that Ohio State receivers like Michael Thomas and Chris Olave were trying to get open in practice against NFL-caliber cornerbacks like Marshon Lattimore.
As Saints head coach Dennis Allen said Thursday night, selecting players from elite programs "helps solidify the evaluation of a player a little more" for scouts and coaches.
He comes from an athletic background
It's not a requirement, but rather a preference: Bresee comes from good stock.
Like so many Saints players, he grew up in an athletic family. His father, Richie, played offensive guard at James Madison University. His mother, Meghan, was an All-American basketball player at Frederick Community College. His older sister, Kendall, played college basketball.
Bresee played baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse and soccer as a kid and was a multi-sport standout in high school.
The Saints have always valued players who come from competitive backgrounds. Cam Jordan, Mark Ingram, Kaden Elliss and Andrus Peat, for example, are the sons of former NFL players.
