It's been a while since our last episode, but it's also a pretty down time of the off-season; HOWEVER, the Saints have been putting out some news recently, including Rookie Mini-camp, recent statements by DA about the future of Marshawn Lattimore with the team, the anticipated, and now official, departure of Andrus Peat, some depth signings at offensive line, and "Big deal" or "No big deal" as to Saints First Round Pick Taliese Fuaga taking reps at LEFT tackle?Also, what rookies are we putting the most stock in after rookie mini-camp has wrapped? At this point, would we put the most stock in one of our later draft picks like Bub Means or a popular UDFA signing like Dallin Holker? Rookie Mini-camp also gave us our first chance to see the new offensive coaching staff actually on the field for the first time, giving reporters the ability to see how each of the coaches go about conducting the practice and teaching their young guys, allowing us to compare it to seeing the same routine on that side of the ball for the past 20 years. We get into that and more in this one, LISTEN IN! WHO DAT?!

“I don’t believe what I just saw!” You’d have gotten one on us had you told us before Thursday night that the best way to describe the outcome of the Saints 2024 NFL Draft might just be those iconic and immortal words of the Late, Great sportscaster, Jack Buck, shouted into his mic as Kirk Gibson limped around the bases to cap off his pinch-hit, game-winning home run for the LA Dodgers in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.No, this year’s draft wasn’t the World Series…but you could definitely say the Saints walked into this year’s draft with a Kirk Gipson-like limp given their total of zero picks in the 3rd or 4th rounds, an offensive line decimated by injuries which virtually mandated assignment of the Saints’ No. 14 pick to the OL (regardless of who else was there), on top of a slew of other needs around the roster that seemingly no amount of 5th round picks could even begin to address. Enter (who we think to be anyway) Saints’ pinch-hitter, Jeff Ireland….who - without trading any future assets - in need of a come-from-behind type win in this year’s draft, appeared to have knocked it out of the park to do just that. We addressed needs, added talent, and did it all while drafting picks that appears to come at great value.We give Ireland the credit here because this draft did NOT have the fingerprints of a Mickey Loomis “at-bat” on it whatsoever. Again, like we said, we made it out with all future picks intact! Now that the extended analogy is done, enjoy this DRAFT RECAP episode as we dive in detail into each of the Saints’ picks, what we liked about the Saints’ draft process overall, hand out Saints Draft Grades and even some quick UDFA talk. LISTEN IN! WHO DAT?!

We are officially on the EVE of the 2024 NFL Draft, and in (probably) less than 24 hours from you listening to this your New Orleans Saints will be on the clock. Max and Corey ring in this Draft Eve special with Nick siitting this one out due to some "personal"/probably very "high-level" obligations. Offensive line is the big topic, and virtually every mock draft out there right now has us taking an O-lineman at 14, but is that what WE think will actually happen? We provide our last pre-draft love-fest to TE Brock Bowers of The University of Georgia in this episode. It's no secret he is the favorite prospect of ALL three of us co-hosts, but will it actually happen? Needless to say, we're preparing to be disappointed but hoping for the best. But, we do provide actual/objective reasons for why he should be the Saints pick if available.Get this episode in (don't worry, it's a quick one) before the draft kicks off tomorrow night! WHO DAT?!

This was a fantastic episode, some wouid say "a banger", as Dan and Mike of The Saints, the City, and Me Podcast, (plus cameo by Steve/@WhoDatinTheUK) join the pod - in person/in studio - to round out their French Quarter Fest trip from England to New Orleans. [On Twitter - Dan: @Procrastinatus; Mike: @MKCPapa]We'd talked about doing an in-person recording with Dan and Mike for a long time, so it was truly our honor to host them and get this one in the books! Not to mention, DON'T MISS the absolutely timeless and special story of how Steve ended up in NOLA this weekend when 72 hours beforehand, he just may not have had ANY plans of being in the city. Listen in for that explanation.We got into just about everything you could imagine: New Orleans food highlights (of course) best meal this trip/best watering holes visited; also football topics: Saints off-season/2024 season outlook, plus Corey's "ageless wonder" complex/looks older than his age - and a detour on his high school football days,/especially one particularly "embarrassing" photo (depending on one's perspective). We also get into Nick's English Premier League team, which Mike "loved" because the definitely "don't cheat".This is only a small sample of a great time with good friends from either side of pond, converging together to chop it up, in NOLA, in-person, at the 28 to 3 Pod HQ. LISTEN IN! This is one you won't want to miss.WHO DAT?!

We recorded this episode at an earlier date, but the news breaking around the time remains the primary topics of discussion as the Saints head into the 2024 NFL Draft and look to shore up their roster (maybe via Free Agency?) beforehand. Does the Ramczyk injury news/knee prognosis mean the Saints "MUST" draft an offensive tackle at pick 14 - OR - are they still in a position to go get an impact offensive skill guy/BPA (if BPA isn't an OL)? We found out the procedure Chase Young will be having, we discuss the realistic possibility of him seeing the field come week 1 based on the procedure and what effect that too will have on the Saints draft strategy (if any). Not a whole lot of change in the Saints news landscape over the past few weeks, but with the draft drawing closer every day and a LOT of areas to be shored up on the Saints roster, there is still PLENTY to talk about and debate - as we often do on this podcast. LISTEN IN! WHO DAT?!

Of course it's no coincidence we launched this podcast on 3/28, and we did so exactly one year ago today. So, to celebrate our one year mark, we've put together a highlight reel of select moments from certain episode and highlights from every guest we've had on the pod in year one, including - in order of appearance:Roman Harper (Saints Hall of Fame Member)Garland Gillen of Fox 8 SportsRalph Malbrough of the Saints Happy Hour PodcastAdam and Ryan of the Saints Block Party Podcast; andJono Barnes - This Shit More Than a Game/The Jono Barnes ShowFrom our guests to hot takes (*cough* Kaden Ellis), debates about nothing, and even a full charcuterie board of Saints players, among many other topics covered, this has definitely been a hell of a year. We're proud of what we built so far, which couldn't be possible without every single listener and follower; but of course, we're just getting started. Much more to come in year two and beyond. WHO DAT?!

We take a break from our usual Saints news and banter to talk about an important charitable cause all three of us are involved in, that is: Hogs for the Cause and our Hogs team: "Deadpork" (Ryan Reynolds has not yet technically approved our appropriation of his movie title, but it's for a good cause, right?!). For those who may not know, Hogs for the Cause, now in its sixteenth year, raises millions of dollars annually to assist families and their children fighting pediatric brain cancer, through the help of over 90 teams who compete in a barbeque competition - this year occurring on April 5-6 in New Orleans - as Hogs originated. Hogs is now a barbeque competition and full-blown music festival all in one, featuring numerous bands playing on three separate stages over the course of two days. Since 2016, Max, Nick, and Corey have been part of their Hogs team, Deadpork, so to explain more about the efforts behind Hogs and to spread awareness regarding our annual fundraising efforts to support this amazing cause, we invited our good friend and team captain, Clint Scroggs, to join the pod and give everyone more detail. Of course, Clint also has some hilarious stories to share from years past at the Hogs festival and just from being friends with all three co-hosts in general. This is definitely a must-listen - yes, for your entertainment; but also so you can learn more on how you can contribute or simply learn more about an extremely worthwhile cause and amazing New Orleans festival. LISTEN IN!

We've done this exercise before, for Chris Olave. The exercise, now known as: The 28 to 3 Pod "Game Show" has proven to be one of our favorite, and maybe most effective, ways of determining exactly where a player ranks league-wide, despite our biased feelings (rightfully so) as Saints fans who may have trouble separating our positive (or negative) feelings from any given hometown player. So, we put Derek Carr through the game show process. In his case, it obviously seems like the majority of Who Dats have negative feelings towards Carr (to put it lightly), leading many to say they'd rather anyone else under center. But, when compared head to head against every other starting QB's in the league, would that be justified? Maybe it is., maybe it isn't - maybe...the answer isn't black and white. After we go through every starting NFL QB and simply say "Yes or No" to him or Carr, we feel confident the picture behind that answer will be more clear. This was definitely a fun and maybe even enlightening episode. LISTEN IN! WHO DAT?!

The Saints are now a full week into the Free Agency signing period (a little more counting the "legal tampering" period). We recap the team's moves, especially the big Chase Young signing - and, as of the day we recorded this, the big Chase Young injury news (aka the most "Saints" thing ever). Obviously, before the Chase Young signing, the moves were pretty small ones, at best, especially compared to some of the big splashes our rivals had made. But, do we like this apparent sign of financial restraint from the Saints, or does the lack of significant signings simply beg for the team to do more to address certain needs? We go pretty in-depth into the Chase Young signing and address the accusations by some that he seems to be simply another Marcus Davenport-"type" of player. There's some strong disagreement on that one. We also address the more positive aspects of the players we did sign, such as Willie Gay and Cedrick Wilson. Definitely worth a listen to help get your mind right as the Saints further navigate free agency ahead of the draft. LISTEN IN! WHO DAT?

It's one of the biggest questions asked every year in the lead up to the NFL Draft: What are the chances our team will land its next franchise QB if it trades significant draft capital to move up and draft one of the top 3 QB's in the draft? After this episode (and thanks to some impressive analysis by our resident-stat/numbers guru, Nick), we have your answer. It may be what you're thinking, but the actual chance of such a move solidifying your QB of the future may surprise you.Applying the question to this year's draft: Unless you've been living under a rock, it's common knowledge at this point that the top 3 rated.QB's in the 2024 draft are widely predicted to go off the board with the top 3 picks. As Saints fans not so "enamored" with our current QB (to put it nicely) and unsure of the future of the position beyond next season, a lot of talk is out there about the Saints "trading up" to get a QB in the 1st round - some even mentioning into that top 3, knowing it'll cost a serious price in future draft picks..BUT - as good as Caleb, Jayden, and Drake may seem to be, can an investment in any of them provide even a coin-flip of a chance that - if drafted - they'll even be worthy of signing a second contract with the team?In this episode, we go in-depth through every QB drafted in the first round over the past 10 years and vote whether we'd have given that QB the going-rate QB extension deal after his rookie contract is up. What percentage of those did we give the nod to? What percentage of that were QB's drafted by a team who gave up significant draft picks to go get them? This episode will give you all the answers, and very well may have DEFINITIVELY answered the question of whether it is ever a good idea to trade up to the top end of. the draft for a QB, regardless of how good he's rated coming out of college.This was definitely a fun episode to record and an absolute must listen. WHO DAT?!