The New Orleans Saints are being linked to one of the most talked-about defensive players in the 2026 NFL Draft class. In his first 2026 mock, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has the Saints taking Ohio State linebacker/edge Arvell Reese at No. 3 overall, projecting a versatile front-seven star to New Orleans’ defense.
Brugler describes Reese as the clear No. 1 player on his board and notes that he can do just about everything you’d want in a modern front-seven defender, even drawing Micah Parsons comparisons from evaluators. For a 2-10 Saints team currently tracking for a top-three pick, a defensive tone-setter like Reese would be a franchise-level swing.
Dane Brugler Projects Arvell Reese to Saints at No. 3
Brugler’s mock lays out a scenario where Tennessee and the New York Giants go ahead of New Orleans, setting the Saints up at No. 3 with a choice between quarterback or blue-chip defender. Instead of another passer, he gives them Reese, an Ohio State standout who has rocketed up draft boards this fall.
In Brugler’s explanation, Reese is billed as a do-it-all front-seven piece: he can play off the ball, match backs and tight ends in coverage, spy mobile quarterbacks and then kick down to the edge to rush the passer with burst and violent hands. That kind of flexibility is exactly what defensive coordinators are hunting for as offenses spread the field and put linebackers in conflict.
Multiple outlets now have Reese among the very top prospects in the class — one recent breakdown notes he’s in the top three on boards at The Athletic, ESPN and PFF, with some mocks even flirting with him at No. 1 overall. Landing that level of defensive talent at No. 3 would be a huge win for a Saints team trying to reset its identity.
Why Arvell Reese Fits What the Saints Need on Defense
Reese’s profile checks every box for a modern defensive centerpiece. At roughly 6-foot-4 and 243 pounds with an estimated 4.5-range 40-yard dash, he combines length and speed in a way few linebackers can match.
Production has followed the traits. Through 12 games for Ohio State this season, Reese has racked up 61 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and a pair of pass breakups, showing he can impact the game against the run, as a blitzer and in limited coverage snaps.
Scouting reports and mock-draft write-ups keep coming back to the same themes: Reese diagnoses quickly, plays with real range and has the explosiveness to close on the ball like an edge rusher. It’s the kind of skill set that lets a defensive coordinator build pressure packages and sub-packages around one player, moving him from off-ball to the line of scrimmage without substituting.
For a Saints defense that has leaned on savvy veterans for years, adding a 20-year-old with this toolbox would inject badly needed youth and ceiling into the middle of the unit.
How Reese Would Slot Into a Front Seven Led by Chase Young and Cam Jordan
The Saints aren’t starting from scratch in the front seven. They’re trying to extend a window while transitioning to the next core. New Orleans re-signed edge rusher Chase Young this past offseason, keeping a 26-year-old former top pick in the building, and still has long-time star Cameron Jordan and productive veteran Carl Granderson on the edges.
The team’s unofficial depth chart lists Pete Werner and Demario Davis as the starting off-ball linebackers, with Davis still playing at a high level and recently earning another nod as the club’s Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee. But both Jordan and Davis are deep into their 30s, and that reality looms over any long-term team-building plan.
Drop Reese into that mix and the structure makes a lot more sense.
Instead of scrambling in a year or two when the older stars finally slow down, the Saints would already have Reese in place as the next alpha in the front seven.
What It Would Signal About the Saints’ 2026 Draft Plan
If Brugler is right and the Saints go with Reese at No. 3, it would say a lot about how the organization views its short-term quarterback situation and long-term identity. As Sports Illustrated has pointed out, Tyler Shough has shown enough flashes that New Orleans might not feel compelled to force a QB pick if it doesn’t love the options on the board.
Using a top-three selection on Reese would be a clear bet that a dominant, scheme-versatile defender can change games just as much as a new quarterback — especially on a roster that already features Young, Jordan and a solid secondary.
For Saints fans staring at the standings right now, Brugler’s mock at least offers one silver lining: if the losses keep stacking up, the payoff might be a Micah Parsons-style game-breaker dropped right into the heart of New Orleans’ defense.
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