| Good morning, and welcome to the Tuesday, April 16 edition of the Saints Insider newsletter. There's only a little more than a week to go until the NFL draft, and today we're going to take a long look at one of the prospects who has been frequently linked to the Saints: Penn State tackle Olu Fashanu. Check, check, check ... Follow the Saints close and long enough, and some trends start to emerge about the types of players they like. For first-rounders especially, they have to meet certain size thresholds for their position (or be so exceptional that they force the Saints to look past a size limitation). Those players need to not only be big, but to be especially athletic for their size. Go back through every one of college scouting director Jeff Ireland's draft classes, and see them littered with athletes who post elite-elite athletic scores. Keep going down the list: Would the player be considered a good fit in the locker room (go look at how many team captains the Saints have drafted)? Was the player productive in college, earning All-Conference recognition? Is there a lengthy injury history involved? Olu Fashanu neatly checks every box the Saints look for. The consensus All-American from 2023 didn't allow a sack in his college career, meets all of the Saints' size thresholds, was a team captain and missed scant time to injury. We get into all of that here. There's a decent chance Fashanu is not there by the time the Saints make their selection at No. 14, but if he is, it's hard to envision a scenario where he is not the pick. We've got a lot more draft coverage coming up in the next week or so, and the Saints Insider crew will hit the studio for a pair of podcasts this week, so be on the lookout for those as well wherever you find your podcasts. Cheers, Luke Johnson | 
