Sean Payton knows sadness.
The New Orleans Saints head coach appeared on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” to survey the 2021 offseason and preview Super Bowl LV’s matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
He then began to speak about how the team evaluated Patrick Mahomes and how he knew the Kansas City Chiefs were going to select him after trading up one pick before them.
“Yeah, we spent a full day on that campus,” Payton said of his 2017 pre-draft visit to Texas Tech, having flown into Lubbock on the owner’s jet with a handful of assistants. “We came away from there, like, just blown away. Impressed. I know I made the comment that [Mahomes] is the best quarterback, the best college quarterback I’ve ever evaluated.”
“There were all the other checks, the things you don’t see on video. His personality was fantastic. He was one of those guys probably always hanging out in the gym after high school, he comes from an athletic family. He’s got a bright smile. It was all there.”
“We were picking at 11, Andy [Reid] went to 10,” Payton recounted. “And as soon as that trade took place we knew it was Mahomes. We were staring at Lattimore and Mahomes, so those were two great scenarios. He’s fun to watch and certainly tough to defend.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
The Chiefs are now in their second-straight Super Bowl, while the Saints got ousted by the Bucs and Drew Brees is likely headed into retirement.
