The New Orleans Saints were recently dealt a tough pill to swallow. Quarterback Derek Carr has a shoulder injury and his 2025 season is reportedly in question.
New Orleans will need to find a new quarterback, whether in the draft or in free agency. The top quarterback the Saints have been linked to is Colorado signal caller Shedeur Sanders at pick No. 9 in the NFL Draft.
NFL insider Adam Schefter recently took a different stance on what the Saints should do. Instead of drafting Sanders at pick No. 9, Schefter said he would wait and try to entice Texas quarterback Arch Manning to come to the draft for the Saints to select.
“I even had one football executive say that the best thing the Saints can do right now, and they would disagree with this, New Orleans, it was just a suggestion from another team, the best thing they could do is tank this year and see if they can entice Arch Manning to come out after next year to come back in and play quarterback for New Orleans," Schefter said. "Now we're getting way ahead of ourselves, but it's fun to speculate at this time of the year when we're going over scenarios like this.”
This decision completely revolves around whether or not the Saints are in love with Sanders as a prospect. Schefter's idea of passing on Sanders makes a lot of sense if New Orleans isn't in love with him.
Manning hasn't shown much at the college level just yet, but he looks to be a top of the first-round prospect. Even then, passing on Sanders would be a huge risk because the Saints can't guarantee having first overall pick next year.
New Orleans is in a very tough spot. It needs to draft a quarterback at some point this offseason whether it's Sanders at the top of the first round or a lottery ticket prospect in the sixth or seventh round.
