The Saints own the 27th overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, which means they won’t be taking one of the top quarterbacks, which frees coach Sean Payton to speak honestly about those prospects. And Payton isn’t overly impressed.
Payton told Peter King of SI.com that he doesn’t view any of these quarterbacks as the same kind of top-notch prospects that he thought Andrew Luck was heading into the 2012 draft, and Carson Wentz was heading into the 2016 draft.
“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.”
This does look like a strong draft for quarterbacks, but that does not mean a future superstar is in this draft. Count Payton as someone who is skeptical that any team will find that superstar quarterback this year.