METAIRIE L.J. Collier Jersey , La. (AP) — to improve their interior blocking in the second round of the draft, trading up 14 spots to take Texas A&M center Erik McCoy with the 48th overall pick they received from Miami.“We were pretty confident he wasn’t going to be available if we stood pat,” Saints coach Sean Payton said, noting that 6-foot-4, 303-pound McCoy was New Orleans’ top target when the second round began on Friday night. “We think he has been a real good football player in college and our gut, and our instincts tell us the same thing will happen at our level.”The decision to take McCoy came after 2018 Pro Bowl center Max Unger’s recent retirement and also came despite New Orleans’ signing of free-agent center Nick Easton, who started 12 games for Minnesota in 2017 but missed all of last season because of neck surgery.Payton said Unger’s departure was “one of reasons we brought Nick in, and so we just felt like interior lineman was going to be important for us.”McCoy asserted that his presence on New Orleans’ roster gives the Saints a player with a combination of “power, strength and speed that’s kind of rare as a center.”“I’m really good at getting to the second level,” McCoy said, referring to his ability to block downfield. “But I can also maintain a block and really be a pile-mover on the first level.”The Saints, who had no first-round pick, entered the draft seeking immediate contributors who could provide depth to a team that has its sights set on a Super Bowl run after losing in overtime of last season’ NFC title game.The addition of McCoy holds the potential to improve depth at both center and guard, positions critical to protecting record-setting, 40-year-old quarterback Drew Brees.“I would say I’m very flexible,” McCoy said. “I have a lot more experience at center, but I played guard pretty much every spring I was at A&M. I have a couple of starts there Marquise Blair Jersey , and I played it in high school.”McCoy joins a couple of other young interior linemen on the roster, including former LSU player Will Clapp and third-year pro Cameron Tom.McCoy said he has been to New Orleans only once before, but is eager to settle there and start his pro career with an offense that has been among the NFL’s best since coach Sean Payton and Brees both joined the Saints in 2006.“Drew Brees is the best quarterback in the NFL,” McCoy said, adding that he also has been impressed by the Saints’ running game and offensive line. “It’s a winning organization.”McCoy took a redshirt in 2015 before starting the past three seasons for the Aggies. He was a captain in all 13 games for A&M last season and was named offensive MVP at the team banquet after being a top blocker for a unit that gained 6,131 total yards.“He’s a guy that we feel like is going to fit in here,” Payton said. “He’s tough. He’s durable, well liked, a captain — all those things. Those are all part of it. Put all that together, along with (being) a good football player, and we feel like we helped ourselves.'”Payton added that scouts were impressed by how consistently strong McCoy’s performances were against Southeastern Conference competition.“You get to see him against guys he’s going to play against this next level,” Payton said. “Some of the better defensive tackles in this draft are coming out of the SEC, so he was very consistent. He’s a physical player and smart.”But Payton stopped short of calling him an immediate starter.“All these guys have a transition to make. It’s hard to predict that sometimes,” Payton said. “In fairness to the process and the veterans that are here, there’s a lot that has to happen for young players to come in” and play right away.The Saints gave up second round picks this year — 62nd overall — and next year in the trade.New Orleans also sent Miami a sixth rounder this year in exchange for a fourth-rounder.New Orleans entered the draft with no picks in the first, third or fourth rounds, having traded those away in 2018 in deals that brought in defensive end Marcus Davenport D.K. Metcalf Jersey , cornerback Eli Apple and reserve QB Teddy Bridgewater.In addition to their newly acquired fourth rounder, the Saints now have one remaining pick in both the fifth and sixth rounds, and two in the seventh. The fantasy football playoffs are upon us, and you’re either nervously tinkering your lineup, worried about the prospect of some unknown backup running back randomly scoring a slew of touchdowns, or you’re over and done with it all, having failed to make the postseason.It seems like it all just started too. So much hope and excitement in August when you’re going over the big board, mulling over Adrian Peterson or Peyton Manning as your top pick, or how much to bid for Arian Foster and Eddie Lacy. It’s a clean slate, and anyone can win, and in August, you’ve forgotten all the past heartache and aggravation that forever and always joins fantasy football.That’s because coaching decisions, injuries, suspensions, and above all the fluctuation and unpredictability of the football season set in. We try to foresee and control a world that cannot be contained, and it results in massive highs and tragic lows. Sadly, there are far more of the latter Cody Barton Jersey , as defeats linger long as weeks go by.Throughout the year, we peruse websites, reading news stories, injury reports, and depth charts. We listen to insiders and analysts and former players and current coaches. We use our instincts, determining whether we think a streak will continue or if the opposite is finally due. We expend all this energy to try to understand what to make of an NFL where even the best at covering it only get it right about 70% of the time.At some point it becomes a drug. Everyone is doing it, you can’t escape fantasy coverage, and even if you’re on top, it’s hard to quit. The fun is fleeting, but we’re so deep into it that we don’t realize. We’ve all become programmed to play fantasy sports and it’s hard to escape.But we should. Unfortunately come next August we will all start again (myself included, regrettably), determined that this year will be different or confident in a repeat championship if you were one of the lucky ones. Lest we forget, here are the reasons we all know true to stop playing fantasy football.