New 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster was so close to becoming new Saints linebacker Reuben Foster that he was on the phone with Saints officials making plans to go to New Orleans when he got the call informing him he was heading to San Francisco.
“I clicked over for the San Francisco 49ers and I think I said, ‘Hello?’ while the New Orleans Saints were still on the line. But I wanted to be a 49er so bad,” Foster said today.
Foster said that while the Seahawks were on the clock with the 31st pick, the Saints informed him that they were taking him 32nd. When 49ers General Manager John Lynch called, Foster initially thought Lynch was calling to tell him that the 49ers would take him in the second round, and Foster started to tell Lynch that the Saints were taking him with the last pick in the first round.
“They wanted to pick me but it was too late,” Foster said. “I told John Lynch it was too late.”
That’s when Lynch explained to Foster that the 49ers had traded up with the Seahawks. Foster said he was excited and thought the 49ers were the best team for him.
Foster said the Saints were so sure that they would pick Foster that not only were the Saints’ football people talking to him about the role he was going to play on their defense, but a Saints official called Foster’s girlfriend to talk to her about making a home in New Orleans.
Asked if he had to have an awkward conversation with the Saints after Lynch got through to tell him he wouldn’t be going to New Orleans after all, Foster answered, “No. I hung up.”