Where Experts Ranked New Orleans Saints First-Round NFL Draft Selection Taliese Fuaga

Before the NFL Draft was under way, experts ranked the New Orleans Saints' new offensive tackle as one of the top prospects in 2024.

Nov 18, 2023; Corvallis, Oregon, USA; Oregon State Beavers head coach Jonathan Smith greets / Craig Strobeck-USA TODAY Sports

The entire football world expected the New Orleans Saints to take an offensive lineman in the first round of the NFL Draft. The Saints did not disappoint when they selected Oregon State tackle Taliese Fuaga.

There was a lot of excitement around the selection, and rightfully so. Fuaga has the polish and talent to be a plug-and-play starter in New Orleans. With the swirling questions around much of the team's protection unit, the team's hope is that he will turn out to be the shot in the arm they need.

He lands in a system that should be fairly familiar to the scheme he was a part of at Oregon State. But his pro-ready expectations are not exclusively specific to the system to or from which he was drafted. Many experts had him highly-ranked throughout the pre-draft process. The Saints invested the No. 14 overall selection in Fuaga, and many agree that the value was there.

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Dane Brugler, The Athletic - No. 17 overall prospect | Offensive tackle No. 4

Mel Kiper, ESPN - No. 16 overall prospect | Offensive tackle No. 4 | Offensive line No. 5

Daniel Jeremiah, NFL - No. 10 overall prospect | Offensive tackle No. 2

Bucky Brooks, NFL - Offensive Tackle No. 2

Nate Tice, Yahoo! Sports - No. 19 overall prospect | Offensive tackle No. 5 | Offensive lineman No. 6

Pro Football Focus - No. 13 overall prospect | Offensive tackle No. 2

Thor Nystrom, Fantasy Pros - No. 17 overall prospect | Offensive tackle No. 4

The Draft Network - No 10 overall prospect | Offensive tackle No. 3

Danny Kelly, The Ringer - No. 19 overall prospect | Offensive tackle No. 5

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Based on this collection of rankings, Fuaga's overall placement was around the No. 15 overall prospect and between the No. 3 and No. 4 offensive tackle in this year's draft. The Saints selected him with the No. 14 overall selection and he was the fourth offensive tackle off the board. That suggests that New Orleans got the exact value they invested on the Oregon State Beaver who could be their starting right tackle as early as Week 1 this upcoming season.