Who should Saints pick in 2026? Google AI says take Kelvin Banks again
49ers GM John Lynch warns teams not using AI to scout that 'you're already behind.' Google Gemini says the Saints should draft Kelvin Banks Jr. again.
Few innovations have been marketed as strongly as large language models regurgitating content from other sources, and some NFL teams are buying in on this "artificial intelligence. Just ask San Francisco 49erse general manager John Lynch. “If you aren’t using it, you’re already behind,” Lynch cautioned in his pre-draft press conference .
Last year, we put Elon Musk's Grok AI through the test by asking it to predict the New Orleans Saints ' 2025 season game by game. It called for snow in a September road game with the Buffalo Bills and hallucinated a couple of matchups that didn't exist, but came close with a 7-10 record (the Saints ultimately finished at 6-11). With the 2026 NFL Draft just days away, it's a good time to circle back and see what kind of growth these AI models have developed.
We asked a couple of different "advanced learning systems" which players the Saints should draft in Round 1. According to Google's Gemini AI assistant , the Saints should simply draft the same player as last year: former Texas Longhorns left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. "Though the Saints recently added Taliese Fuaga, the offensive line remains a focal point for long-term stability.
Banks is a massive, athletic tackle who has consistently been ranked as a top-10 talent," Gemini responded. "Protecting a young quarterback is priority number one. If the Saints decide that the defensive value at No.