Saints Sign Entire Draft Class

That’s a wrap! On Friday, the Saints announced that they have signed their entire draft class:

• 2-48: Erik McCoy, OL (Texas A&M)
• 4-105: Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, S (Florida)
• 6-177: Saquan Hampton, S (Rutgers)
• 7-231: Alize Mack, TE (Notre Dame)
• 7-244: Kaden Elliss, LB (Idaho)

All players will receive four-year deals. But, naturally, McCoy gets the biggest payout of the bunch. His draft slot at No. 48 overall gives him almost $6.1MM in total, with a signing bonus of nearly $2.5MM.

McCoy spent three years as the Aggies’ starting center, but he also made a pair of starts at guard in 2017. With the Saints, McCoy is expected to compete for the starting center job, though he could theoretically see time at left or right guard.

The Saints had a condensed draft class this year, due in part to the two trades they made to land McCoy and Gardner-Johnson. Last year, Gardner-Johnson made 71 tackles, nine tackles for loss, three sacks, and came away with a team-high four interceptions. He already has a relationship with secondary coach Aaron Glenn and couldn’t be happier to be in New Orleans.

“It’s the best all around team from top to bottom, offense and defense,”Gardner-Johnson said recently. “I’m just coming into a system where everything has a standard. I’m just going to come in and live up to that standard so everyone on the team and in the front office upstairs can be proud of me and say these guys are set.”