Links between Patrick Mahomes and other teams have emerged in the past. The Cardinals were preparing to draft the eventual Chiefs megastar five years ago. Sean Payton also confirmed the rumored story of his old team’s plans with the then-Texas Tech prospect. During his latest FOX appearance (h/t NFL.com’s Peter Schrager), the former Saints coach said he was prepared to draft Mahomes at No. 11 in 2017. While Payton confirmed he discussed the selection with Drew Brees and informed the future Hall of Famer a Mahomes pick would not impact his starter status, the Saints also viewed Marshon Lattimore as a top-four player in the 2017 class.
Payton said in 2020 the team did not have a clear choice between Lattimore and Mahomes, though then-Kansas City GM John Dorsey made New Orleans’ decision easier with the trade-up for the quarterback. Payton said this week Mahomes was “the best quarterback I’d ever seen on college tape.” The Saints had worked out Mahomes in Lubbock that year. Hindsight would suggest the Saints needed to be ready to climb into the top 10 for such a talent, but Mahomes was not viewed as a surefire top-10 pick that year. GM Mickey Loomis also said Lattimore falling impacted the team’s decision not to trade up for Mahomes. Both Mahomes and Lattimore are now signed to long-term contracts, though the former’s prime should be expected to last longer.
Here is the latest from the NFC South:
- The NFL’s longest-tenured general manager, excluding those with owner-GM or coach-GM roles, Loomis has seen fellow Saints cornerstones Payton and Brees depart in the past two offseasons. But the 21st-year Saints front office boss is not planning to join them in leaving anytime soon, via Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com. When the acclaimed salary cap guru does walk away, Jeff Ireland looms as a logical successor. The former Dolphins GM is well-regarded by Loomis and others in the organization, Duncan adds. Ireland, 52, was the Dolphins’ GM from 2008-13. Currently the Saints’ assistant GM, Ireland has been with the team since 2015. The Bears interviewed Ireland for their GM post this offseason, while the Lions and Panthers met with him in 2021. It will be interesting to see if Ireland sticks around to potentially succeed Loomis or land a GM gig elsewhere before the New Orleans GM exits.
- After a strained 2021 between Michael Thomas and the Saints, first-year HC Dennis Allen made connecting with the wide receiver one of his first acts upon being promoted. Allen flew to Los Angeles to have dinner with Thomas early this offseason, Mike Triplett of ESPN.com notes. Despite Thomas’ injury-plagued 2020s and the Saints’ frustration with their top wideout regarding his 2021 surgery timetable — a process that led to the All-Pro missing a full season — the team vowed not to trade him early this offseason. Thomas, 29, has returned healthy and caught two touchdown passes in the Saints’ Week 1 comeback win over the Falcons.
- Potentially the Colts‘ left tackle of the future, Bernhard Raimann backed up Matt Pryor in Week 1. But the Colts used the third-round rookie in a rotation with Pryor. After Raimann played 12 of the five-period game’s 90 left tackle snaps, Frank Reich said (via the Indianapolis Star’s Joel Erickson) he plans to continue rotating his backup in going forward. Left tackle represented the only position at which the Colts deployed a rotation, beginning a path to Raimann seizing this job full-time. The Colts re-signed Pryor on a one-year, $5.55MM deal this offseason, and Erickson offers the 2021 Colts swingman — who has never been a full-time left tackle — could be an option at right guard, should Raimann take over the blindside.
- Sam Darnold is making progress toward a return. The Panthers backup has shed his walking boot, per The Athletic’s Joe Person (on Twitter). On IR due to a high ankle sprain, Darnold will miss at least the season’s first four weeks.
Saints would have been set with mahomes. They have a complete team and would have handed off from Brees similar to farve to rodgers. Now they are stuck with jameis, yikes
There’s a reason they don’t give out awards for hindsight executive of the year.
The NFL was quite upset with Ed Sabol back in the 60s when he produced those “blooper” films…despite the fact they were the most entertaining and popular items in the NFL Films library.
Every time I read that “X” team was high on Mahomes, I wonder… why the bell weren’t the Bears on him over Trubisky???
I’m a middle aged Cubs fan that finally saw a World Series victory. Not so confident that I will ever see another Bears championship.
Mahomes has both the talent and coaching in KC. Would of been fine in New Orleans. Nobody would of succeeded in the train wreck that is the Bears.
Plus they share a border with the Dutch.
I’ve got to agree with Yep. Mahomes had plenty of talent that was obvious from an early look. However, he had questions regarding his playstyle (very aggressive and with the potential to be turnover prone in the pros) and the defenses he played against in college.
Lots of very talented college players have those types of questions, and lots don’t succeed in the NFL. Mahomes found the perfect fit in Kansas City roster-wise, scheme-wise, and most importantly coaching wise. There’s no telling what he would have looked like in Chicago. It’s really up to where a guy lands to see how much of his ceiling he can hit. Not every guy has that high a ceiling, but not every coach or team will get him to the point where he’ll hit it, whatever it is.
Mahomes got to sit a year too, because there wasn’t any pressure to take out Alex Smith. I don’t think Trubisky would have ever matched Mahomes had they switched places, but he would have certainly been better in Kansas City.
Pretty funny clicking these old draft stories and seeing how things turned out.
Darnold should stay in the boot and play the injury. I wouldn’t want to be behind that offensive line. Mayfield, Corral, and Darnold are all hurt because of that line. They are going to have a practice squad full of QBs with a injury waiver agreement in case of injuries sustained by that line.