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Forecast: Why the Saints should take Lamar Jackson

So how do the Saints follow up the greatest draft in the history of ever? By rolling the dice on securing New Orleans having two decades of elite quarterback play and selecting Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson with the 27th pick or trading up to get him.
Louisville Cardinals quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) throws the ball during the first half against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl at EverBank Field. Photos: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

Are you as excited about the 2018 NFL Draft as much as you were last year? Probably not. The New Orleans Saints don’t have as many draft picks, the Pelicans are rampaging through the NBA playoffs, and how exactly can the Saints top the awesomeness of their 2017 draft?

The Saints 2017 draft would make the most beautiful artwork ever created look like a children’s drawing. That’s what Mickey Loomis and Jeff Ireland created during the 2017 NFL Draft; the eighth wonder of the world but with super athletic college football players. The Taj Mahal or China’s Great Wall seem majestic, until you see Mashon Lattimore catch a football with his backside or Alvin Kamara run away from entire teams like they are in slow motion.

So how do the Saints follow up the greatest draft in the history of ever? By rolling the dice on securing New Orleans having two decades of elite quarterback play and selecting Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson with the 27th pick or trading up to get him.

As any of you who read this column regularly or listen to my podcast know, I don’t pretend to be a ‘tape watcher’ and I don’t grade prospects or dream of being the next Mike Detillier or Mel Kiper Jr. I do though have several reasons why I want the Saints to draft Lamar Jackson and I have a theory as to why I think they will.

So why do I want the Saints to take a quarterback when they seem so close to winning another Super Bowl and already have Drew Brees? Brees isn’t going to play forever, history tells us once a quarterback gets to 39-years-old he’s on borrowed time no matter how great of shape he’s in, but mostly I want the Saints to draft Lamar Jackson because it’ll be fun. It’ll be fun to debate if taking Jackson was a good idea, fun see Sean Payton dream up cool plays for him, fun to argue over if the Saints can fix his inconsistent throwing, and fun to watch him run away from defenses and chuck the most beautiful deep ball you’ll see. Go watch some Lamar Jackson highlights on YouTube and tell me exactly how teams would stop a Saints offense where Jackson is running option plays with Alvin Kamara AND completing 60 percent of his throws?

I don’t know how many Super Bowl rings the above scenario would collect but I know a Sean Payton designed offense featuring Alvin Kamara, Mike Thomas, and Lamar Jackson as a top 10 quarterback in 2020 would be the most dynamic fun thing the NFL has seen in years. It’d be must see TV and I’m here for it.

Some of you might say, “I want a tight end or another player who can help the Saints win NOW?!” That’s a fair argument but if Lamar Jackson is special, the Saints got him, and he was blessed with good health, we’d have winning Saints football until around 2030. That’s a bet worth taking. Waiting two years to see a draft pick take the field might sound like a long time, but as a parent of a two-year-old boy, I can attest two years flies by before you know it.

So I’ve laid out why I want the Saints to take Jackson but I also have a theory why Sean Payton will draft him. The biggest knock on Jackson is his footwork is kind of a mess. The best way I can describe it is Jackson is like a golfer whose swing every so often just looks terrible. Is it fixable? I have no idea, neither do you, and neither do any NFL teams. But I bet you a guy as confident as Sean Payton believes he can get Jackson’s flaws straightened out. Granted draft rumors are usually as true as words coming out of a politician’s mouth, but the fact Sean Payton and Bill Belichick both reportedly like Jackson a lot tells me they see something in him and believe in his talent.

The NFL is evolving and what if Payton and Belichick see Jackson as the future at the quarterback position. You’ve probably heard the cliché “Teams win with a quarterback that throws from the pocket.” but what if that’s changing? A fantastic feature on ESPN’s site ‘The Undefeated’ on Lamar Jackson had this interesting stat about 2017, “Quarterbacks rushed for 7,143 yards, the most they’ve totaled in 17 years.” What if NFL offenses are about to start looking a lot like college offenses? Wouldn’t the guy who won a Heisman trophy looking unstoppable be the guy you’d want?

The thing that convinced me Sean Payton really wants Lamar Jackson might seem counter-intuitive, but the moment Payton bad mouthed all the quarterbacks in this year’s draft was the moment I knew he wants one of them.

Sean Payton told MMQB’s Peter King during an interview, “I don't see Luck in this draft, and I don't see Carson Wentz, who I liked a lot coming into the draft," Payton said. "I'd feel a little bit uneasy if I were at the top of this draft and I decided I had to have a quarterback. The pressure to get a quarterback is so great in this league, I get that. But we can't create 'em. I wouldn't be surprised if only one of these guys is left standing in four or five years, and if so, I'd guess it would be Sam Darnold."

If Sean Payton really thought all these quarterbacks weren’t any good, wouldn’t he want as many to be drafted ahead of the Saints as possible so more players he liked would be available at 27 when the Saints select? So if he truly only thought Darnold was the only good quarterback wouldn’t he talk all of them up and try to help get a bunch of quarterbacks drafted high? Is my theory based on how a 12-year-old boy treats the girl he has a crush on by telling her he hates her?

Absolutely.

If you want 40 times and three-cone drill analysis, you’ve come to the wrong place buddy.

My last reason for believing the Saints will take Lamar Jackson is Mickey Loomis and Sean Payton are completely secure in their jobs. Now that Gayle Benson is owner she seems to have complete faith in how things are operating and Payton and Loomis look like two guys here for the long haul. So if that’s true why not secure the quarterback for their second decade in charge of Saints football?

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