Rookie first-round pick unfairly predicted to be Saints' biggest bust in 2025
Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox recently shared an overview of who he expects will be each team's biggest bust of the 2025 NFL season. For the Saints, he chose first-round pick Kelvin Banks Jr., the rookie left tackle from Texas. This is what Knox had to say about why he picked Banks:
[They] reached when they took Banks ninth overall. He was the 33rd-ranked prospect on the Bleacher Report Scouting Department's final draft board and remains unfinished as a blocker. Expect Banks' rookie struggles to be highlighted by having a young quarterback behind him.
While it is fair to expect some growing pains for a rookie, to consider the possibility that he would be considered a bust candidate after just one season doesn't seem as fair. Banks is expected to be a starting left tackle from the first game of his career. Even if he can look at least solid for most of the season, this year should be considered a win. If he isn't a dominant tackle from the first game on, no one should be surprised.
Even looking at his college tape and pass blocking skills, it would be shocking to see him be a complete failure. He has looked as strong as one could expect a 21-year-old to look. Per Pro Football Focus, Banks allowed just four sacks and 34 pressures in 1,544 career pass-blocking snaps in college. Banks would have to look very, very bad as a rookie to consider him the biggest bust of the year for New Orleans.
Players like Chase Young or Juwan Johnson would be more fair to be considered as bust candidates, as they received big contracts this offseason and need to be better than they were last year to justify them.
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