Presenting the Saints’ all-time best value pack

With five of the first 103 picks in next week’s NFL draft, the Saints are not only looking for outstanding players but also for value, especially in the later rounds.

Here’s my top 10 value picks in Saints draft history:
 
10. Wide receiver Danny Abramowicz. A 17th-round pick in the first Saints season, Abramowicz played seven seasons for the Saints and caught 37 touchdown passes. Not bad for the 420th selection in the draft.
 
9. Tight end Jimmy Graham. A third-round choice in 2010, Graham had 51 touchdown catches as a Saint in five seasons.
 Graham also had 355 receptions in his last four seasons in New Orleans.
 
8. Guard Jahri Evans. Evans, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, was a starter on the 2009 season Super Bowl champions. He played 11 seasons with the Saints.
 
7. Defensive lineman Jim Wilks. Wilks, the 305th pick of the 1981 draft, played in 183 games, with 145 starts. Although he played the interior, Wilks finished with 45.5 career sacks.
 
6. Wide receiver Eric Martin. The 179th pick in 1985, this seventh-rounder from LSU played nine years as a Saint. He had 48 touchdown receptions. Martin and quarterback Bobby Hebert formed one of the best catch/pass combinations in club history.
 
5. Outside linebacker Pat Swilling. Swilling, a third-round pick in 1986, played only seven seasons with the Saints before being traded to the Lions.

Swilling was voted NFL defensive player of the year in 1991 and totaled 76.5 quarterback sacks.

4. Kicker Morten Andersen. Andersen recently was voted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. He joins Jan Stenerud as the only two full-time placekickers to be chosen for Canton. Andersen played 13 seasons for the Saints and made 77.6 percent of his field goal attempts. He was a fourth-round pick, 86th overall in 1982.

3. Tackle Willie Roaf was one of the great offensive tackles in NFL history. Roaf, the eighth pick in the 1993 draft, was drafted with the pick the Saints received from Detroit for Pat Swilling.
Roaf started 131 games, before he was traded to Kansas City. He was an 11-time Pro Bowler and was a 2012 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

2. Outside linebacker Rickey Jackson. Jackson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010. In the 1981 draft, the most heralded University of Pittsburgh linebacker was Hugh Green, who was picked seventh overall by Tampa Bay.
But Jackson, pick No. 51, had the better career. He is the Saints’ all-time sack leader with 115. Jackson won a Super Bowl with the 49ers in 1994.

1. Wide receiver Marques Colston. He undoubtedly is the top value pick in Saints history. Colston played all 10 seasons as a Saint. He is the team’s all-time leader in receptions (711), TD receptions (72) and receiving yards (9,759). A seventh-rounder, Colston was the 252nd pick in the 2006 NFL draft.

Now, that’s value.

Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected].