The New Orleans Saints surprised nearly everybody Friday night, boldly trading away their third and fourth-round picks to the New England Pariots in order to move back into the end of the second round with an eye on improving the secondary. But they didn’t surprise the man they traded up to get. Ohio State safety Vonn Bell has spent the past couple of months building a relationship with Saints head coach Sean Payton, so the Saints’ decision to move up to the No. 61 pick to take their second Buckeye of the night — New Orleans grabbed Ohio State receiver Michael Thomas fourteen picks before Bell — was the kind of move Bell was expecting. “Me and Coach Payton, we’ve had calls going back and forth,” Bell said. “We’ve kept in close contact, and he told me he wanted to pick me.” The move came as something of a surprise, because the Saints entered the 2016 draft with only six picks, three fewer than the nine selections they had in 2015. New Orleans now heads into the final day of the draft with just two selections, one in the fifth and one in the seventh. But the Saints have been looking for safety help throughout the process, doing extensive homework on the entire class. .ew Orleans lost third safety Rafael Bush to Detroit in free agency, and after releasing former fifth-round pick Vinnie Sunseri a few days before the draft, New Orleans had only five safeties on the roster, and only three behind starters Kenny Vaccaro and Jairus Byrd. Bell, a 5-foot-11, 199-pounder who spent three productive seasons at Ohio State, adds a safety who will instantly compete for time in the Saints’ nickel and dime packages, and he could be groomed as a potential successor to Jairus Byrd somewhere down the line. …
Continue Reading: ‘I can do it all’: Saints trade up to nab Ohio State’s Vonn Bell
