Head coach Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints traded up during the 2020 NFL Draft in the seventh and final round in order to curiously select Mississippi State quarterback Tommy Stevens.
The 23-year-old Penn State transfer could have perhaps gone undrafted and later signed by the Saints, but reportedly NFC South division rival Carolina Panthers had a plan in place promising to sign an undrafted Stevens.
Payton and the Saints stepped in and nixed that plan to get ahead of their foes, per Jeff Duncan of The Athletic, Payton said of Stevens:
“It became my project … I said, honestly, I was having some fun. You had given your word and I respect that. But we weren’t going to lose you. You were going to become a Saint.”
Duncan elaborates that Payton and New Orleans caught wind of the Panthers' plan and schemed their own plot — trading their 2021 sixth-round pick to the Houston Texans to select Stevens with the 240th overall pick last weekend.
Of course, New Orleans is already set at the quarterback position with veteran and star Drew Brees returning plus agreeing to re-sign utility player Taysom Hill, the quarterback/receiver/rusher deployed via trickery by Payton.
While drafting Stevens was plotted to hurt the division-rival Panthers, maybe down the road the former Bulldogs playmaker could help the Saints in a post-Brees world. Stevens is the latest example of the Saints' vicious rivalry with Carolina, who signed ex-Saints backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater this offseason.
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