The 2024 NFL Draft is almost here, and the New Orleans Saints will be hoping this nightmare scenario doesn’t take place in the first round.

All offseason, NFL teams have been doing the necessary work to finalize their draft boards. With the 2024 NFL Draft set to start Thursday, April 25, teams likely have a good idea of the players they want to select. However, an idea is just an idea. Unless teams are picking in the top two spots, there’s no telling what will happen or what players will be available once a franchise is finally on the clock.

That means teams could face nightmare scenarios: an instance where all of their top prospects are selected before they even get on the clock. Of course, there will still be talented players for the teams to select, but it won’t be the players the franchise were hoping to land.

Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report recently described the 2024 draft nightmare for all 32 teams. For the New Orleans Saints, the nightmare scenario was simple: all of the top tackles being off the board by the time New Orleans is on the clock with the 14th pick.

Saints missing out on top tackles would be a draft nightmare

Gagnon specifically listed Joe Alt, Olu Fashanu, J.C. Latham, Troy Fautanu, and Taliese Fuaga all being off the board before pick 14 as a nightmare for New Orleans. That would undoubtedly be the worst-case scenario for New Orleans. The Saints need a tackle bad— they may actually need two. Getting one of the top tackles in this deep tackle class is paramount for New Orleans.

If this actually happens on Thursday, there will be a few ways the Saints could respond. First, New Orleans could try to trade up to prevent it from happening. Once the team sees three tackles fly off the board, the Saints should know it’s time to get to work. If they can’t make that happen, another option is staying at 14 and just taking the best player avavailable. If five tackles fly off the board in the first 13 picks, there will certainly be some elite pass catchers or edge defenders for New Orleans to draft.

The final option is the least exciting. New Orleans could just trade back and get more picks. They’ll be able to get one of the talented tackles from the second tier of prospects, and also have more picks to work with. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, though, and the Saints can get the tackle they want at No. 14.