Saints Minicamp: The Curious Reason No One’s Talking About First-Round Pick Kelvin Banks Jr.

UPDATE (April 10th, 2025 11am) - The context of this story has changed, after New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr announced his retirement this morning:

ORIGINAL STORY: New Orleans Saints rookie minicamp is getting underway. Which means everyone is going to get their first look at the new crop of Saints rookies in black and gold for the first time.

Why Saints First-Round Pick Kelvin Banks Jr. Might Be Overlooked

Many eyes will be looking past Saints first round draft pick Kelvin Banks Jr, not because people don't think he will be good, but because the second round pick of the Saints will be drawing all of the attention.

It was a very logical pick at the 9th overall pick in the first round for the Saint to take Banks Jr. He's a massive offensive tackle, checking in at 6'5 and 315 lbs at the NFL Combine. His "prospect grade" from NFL.com was a 6.43, which indicates that their scouts believe he will be a starter at tackle within his first two seasons.

Banks, Jr's resume is strong, 10th overall high school prospect in the college recruiting process, Freshman All-American, All-Big 12, First Team All-American, First-team All-SEC, and won the Lombardi Award (nation's top OL). But even with all of this hype, Banks, Jr is going to be overlooked as the Saints ramp up for the 2025 season.

Tyler Shough: The Second-Round QB Stealing the Spotlight Amidst Carr's Injury

The reason the Saints first round pick will be overshadowed is the fact they took a quarterback in the second round of the draft.

With the 40th overall pick in the draft, the Saints took Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough. Which means the team is investing in him, especially with questions surrounding veteran quarterback Derek Carr. Since Carr has an injury that might cost him a significant part of the 2025 season, Shough's path to being the Saints starting quarterback might be pretty clear.

Spending that draft capital on a quarterback, and having an injury to your intended starter, is a recipe for attention.

The Buzz Around Tyler Shough's Jersey Number and the Legacy of #9

Which we've already seen as rookie minicamp started to fire up. Fans wanted to know what jersey number Shough would be wearing, and it turned out to be a story way more people were watching than any might have expected. That's because a lot of fans noted Shough's college number was #9...a number that you'll probably never see worn again in a Saints uniform.

If you didn't catch it already, #9 was worn by Drew Brees. He will eventually have that number retired by the franchise publicly, and its probably pretty likely that they've already done that internally. There was no way Shough was going to get assigned #9, and no one else will either.

Tyler Shough's New Number Revealed: Saints Rookie Jersey Assignments

Which means Shough needed a new number, and according to NOLA.com that number will be #6...and that makes sense. It's really just his Louisville 9 flipped upside down.

If you were curious, NOLA.com had the numbers for the rest of the rookie class too.

• First-round OT Kelvin Banks has been assigned #71
• Third-round DT Vernon Broughton has been assigned #91
• Third-round DB Jonas Sanker: has been assigned #33
• Fourth-round DB Quincy Riley: has been assigned #29
• Fourth-round LB Danny Stutsman: has been assigned #47
• Sixth-round RB Devin Neal: has been assigned #30
• Seventh-round TE Moliki Matavao: has been assigned #80
• Seventh-round DE Fadil Diggs: has been assigned #40

Will These Saints Rookie Jersey Numbers Stick for Week 1?

Now this doesn't mean any of these numbers are guaranteed to stick all the way to Week 1 of the NFL season. In fact, just because these players were assigned numbers doesn't mean their place on the roster will be there in Week 1 of the season either.

But Shough, he's probably sticking with #6, and the Saints are probably sticking with him as the season starts too.