NFL Mock Draft 2015: Trae Waynes helps bolster Saints' secondary

The New Orleans Saints have had an interesting off-season. Needing to cut down their roster to get under the 2015 salary cap, they traded tight end Jimmy Graham to Seattle for a first-round draft pick and center Max Unger. That pick, 31 overall, joins their 13th selection and their second-round pick to give them three picks in the top 44 in the 2015 NFL Draft.

With the offense still a strength in New Orleans, the Saints likely will look to increase the talent level on defense with some of those picks. Brendan Kennedy plays GM for New Orleans in the APC Mock Draft, and with the 13th pick he has selected...

Trae Waynes, cornerback, Michigan State

Height: 6 feet
Weight: 186 pounds
Combine 40 time: 4.31 seconds

Here's Brendan to break it down:

The Saints kicked off the off-season by making the kind of trade most of us would do in fantasy football but that real teams never even consider. Here's the thing though - the more I think about it, the more I like the Jimmy Graham trade for the Saints. They've survived on patchwork solutions around Drew Brees for years now and although it cost them an all-world TE in the process, they're finally starting to put in some foundational type players.

Trae Waynes, in case you're wondering, would be another one of those players. As one of the top corners in this draft, Waynes is a Combine observer's wet dream. Tall, strong (19 reps on the bench at just 186 lbs.) and most impressively - fast as all get out, clocking a 4.31 40-yard dash. Along with safeties Jairus Byrd, Kenny Vaccaro and the recently-signed Brandon Browner, Waynes would give the Saints an elite talent in the defensive backfield. That may not be totally necessary in the NFC South, but if the Saints have any grand plans for contending for the conference in the coming years, they'll need a corner who can compete against the likes of Rodgers, Romo, Wilson, etc.