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Drew Brees is a future Hall of Famer, but in the seasons leading up to his retirement, it was clear the New Orleans Saints needed a replacement. Every team would like to say they were in on Patrick Mahomes coming out of college, but that's simply not the case. For the Saints, though, that was a legitimate possibility.
Mahomes was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2017 draft with the 10th overall pick. He then sat behind Alex Smith for a year before taking over and winning MVP the following year.
In a huge revelation, Sean Payton said that the Saints had a genuine plan in place to move from one Hall of Fame quarterback to a likely second.
On FOX's NFL pregame show, Payton, who joined as a commentator following his retirement from coaching, spoke about the best division in the NFL for quarterbacks. His comments related to the AFC West.
The division has Derek Carr, Russell Wilson, Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes. Payton had this to say about former MVP Patrick Mahomes:
"I think it starts with Patrick Mahomes. When we evaluated him, he was clearly an elite player, the best quarterback I'd ever seen on college tape. In the draft room, we pick 11. The Chiefs trade up to 10 ahead of us to make that selection."
Payton continued:
"Drew Brees was in the draft room that day. It was the first time he'd ever been up there... He and I chatted, went over the depth chart. It wasn't going to impact him, but I thought it was important he knew."
Instead of Mahomes, the Saints ended up with future defensive rookie of the year Marshon Lattimore. They were very close to landing a future MVP and perennial Pro Bowler, though.
Are the Saints going to make the playoffs?
The Saints narrowly missed out on the playoffs last season, losing the final playoff spot to the San Francisco 49ers on the final day of the regular season.
That was without Michael Thomas for the entire season and Jameis Winston for 10 games.
With those two back and healthy, there's no reason to believe New Orleans won't be able to get over that hump and return to the playoffs. There's even a chance they can get past Tampa Bay and win the NFC South.
