The Pick That Got Away — Sean Payton on Almost Drafting Patrick Mahomes Go to https://kachava.com and use code WINGO for 15% off your first order. In the 2017 NFL Draft the New Orleans Saints had two players circled at their pick. Two names. Two possibilities. And when the pick before Buffalo came off the board Sean Payton and his staff knew immediately — they were getting one of them. One of them was Marshon Lattimore. The other was Patrick Mahomes. What happened next is one of the most extraordinary stories in NFL draft history. And Sean Payton is telling it in full for the first time. Here is the scene. The Saints are in their draft room. Drew Brees is there — the first time he has ever been in a draft room — taking a group on a tour, planning to stay for the first round. Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer are there with their caddies and their yardage books because the golf tournament was in town. The first round is moving. Kansas City is picking at twenty-seven. The Saints are sitting with two names in the circle waiting to see which one falls to them. And then Buffalo makes a trade. The moment Kansas City traded up Sean Payton knew. He did not need reports. He did not need a tip. He looked at the trade and he knew immediately what a move like that meant. A team does not trade up like that for a running back. A team does not trade up like that for a linebacker. A team trades up like that for a quarterback. Three words. Said out loud in the Saints draft room. There goes Mahomes. Drew Brees was standing right there. Payton pulled him aside. Told him this thing could go in a direction. Brees understood. It was 2017 — it was not going to impact him immediately. But everyone in that room understood what had just happened. Kansas City had just changed the NFL. The Saints ended up with Lattimore. And Alvin Kamara in the third round. And Trey Hendrickson. And Alex Anzalone. Lattimore won Defensive Rookie of the Year. Kamara won Offensive Rookie of the Year. The Saints could not pay all of them. It was one of the greatest drafts in franchise history. By the time 2017 arrived the Super Bowl roster from 2009 had been almost completely turned over — Drew Brees and maybe one or two others were the only holdovers. The 2017 draft rebuilt the Saints the same way the 2006 draft had built them the first time. But the Mahomes question will always be there. What if Kansas City had not traded up? What if Payton had gotten to make that decision — Mahomes or Lattimore with Drew Brees still in the building? What does the NFL look like if Patrick Mahomes spends his career in New Orleans? What does it look like for Buffalo — the team that made the trade with Kansas City — who has watched Mahomes eliminate them from the playoffs more times than any fan base wants to count? These are the questions that never get answered. The picks that got away never do. But now at least the full story of how close it actually was — two names in the circle, one trade, three words said out loud in a room with Drew Brees and Jordan Spieth watching — is on the record. There goes Mahomes. And those are straight facts, homie. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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