| Good morning, and welcome to the Saints Insider newsletter for Thursday, April 27, 2023. Today is NFL Draft day, also known as Christmas in April for football fans. All of the preparation, planning and anticipation are over. Time to get down to the business of making selections. Who will the Saints select? Nobody knows, including the club's brain trust. When you select at No. 29 in the first round, you're largely a victim of circumstance. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said as much during his pre-draft press conference on Wednesday. Here's what we learned from Loomis' 20-minute briefing with reporters: --The Saints will lean on their time-tested drafting formula this week. --The Saints, as usual, will consider a trade up -- or a trade down. --The Saints won't rule out selecting a running back in Round 1. Also, Wednesday, columnist Rod Walker compiled a comprehensive list of draft prospects from Louisiana who can expect to hear their names called over the next three days. And finally, I penned a column about the NFL Draft and why it likely won't be coming to New Orleans anytime soon. In case you missed it, beat reporter Terrin Waack put together an exhaustive research project on the Saints' draft history and how they've fared the last 10 years compared to the rest of the NFL. --How the Saints compare to the rest of the NFL in draft success. --A look at every NFL draft pick the Saints have made since 2013. --2017 was "the gold standard" of recent draft classes for the Saints. Speaking of the draft, our team will be broadcasting live from the Saints draft headquarters in Metairie. Check out the details of how you can follow along during the first round on Thursday night. That's it for today. We'll have wall-to-wall coverage from the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night. Until then, Jeff Duncan | 
