Saints projected to select National Champion cornerback by Fox Sports analyst

A Fox Sports analyst has the New Orleans Saints bolstering their secondary with the ninth-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

With the frenzy of free agency largely in the rear view, mock drafts are coming in with more clarity of team’s needs and the physical attributes of draft prospects. The New Orleans Saints find themselves with a top ten pick for the first time since the 2008 draft, where they selected Sedrick Ellis. Mock drafters have mostly had the Saints selecting at wide receiver and defensive end, but one analyst went in a different direction.

Geoff Schwartz played offensive line for eight seasons in the NFL before transitioning to a media role with Fox Sports. Schwartz recently filled in for Chris Broussard on FS1’s First Things First and revealed the top ten picks in his mock draft. At pick 9, Schwartz had the Saints selecting Michigan cornerback Will Johnson. While Schwartz spent the TV segment elaborating on the top five picks, it is easy to see why he would have Johnson as a top 10 pick.

FOX Sports’ Geoff Schwartz has the Saints drafting Will Johnson

The 6’2”, 194-pounder out of Detroit started his college career as a highly touted 5-star recruit, living up to the hype as he received Freshman All-American recognition in 2022. He would receive first-team All-Big Ten in 2023 and received defensive MVP honors in the 2023 National Championship Game, scoring four tackles and an interception. He missed the second half of his junior season with turf toe, but he was still effective enough to net third-team All-American honors with two pick-sixes and 14 tackles in six games. NFL.com gave him a 6.5 prospect grade on an 8-point scale, listing him as a player with “boom-or-bust potential.”

Johnson seems like a talented player who has been a part of winning teams, and this pick would match the Saints' free agency strategy of bolstering their secondary. The Saints signed Isaac Yiadom at cornerback, bringing him back to the team after a year in San Francisco. The team also brought in Louisiana native and Super Bowl Champion Justin Reid at safety, pairing him up with fellow Louisiana native Tyrann Mathieu at safety. With the Saints losing Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore, a player of Johnson’s pedigree and talent could challenge for a starting role at cornerback alongside Alontae Taylor or Kool-Aid McKinstry.

Johnson is an outside-the-box pick for the Saints. The NFL Mock Draft Database has the consensus pick being EDGE Mykel Williams out of Georgia, with wide receivers Tetairoa McMillan and Luther Burden being the second and third most-mocked players to New Orleans.

The Saints will be on the clock in just over a month, as the first round of the NFL Draft kicks off on April 24th.