It was a moment that reshaped the league… When the Kansas City Chiefs traded up to the 10th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft to select Patrick Mahomes. It also changed the course of the New Orleans Saints in ways whose impact lingers on even today.
Former Saints head coach Sean Payton recently revisited that draft-night sequence of events. He revealed just how close New Orleans was to landing the quarterback who would become the face of a dynasty.
The Saints were picking at No. 11 and felt confident about how the board was falling. As Payton explained, Buffalo was on the clock at No. 10, and New Orleans had narrowed its focus to two players: Mahomes and cornerback Marshon Lattimore.
The team drafting just ahead of Buffalo had made its selection. Neither Mahomes nor Lattimore was taken. That made the Saints confident that they were guaranteed one of the two.
“When you’re picking two away, you better have two you like,” Payton said. “And those were our two.”
Then came the announcement that there had been a trade. What caught Payton’s attention wasn’t the deal itself, but who had made it. “As soon as they said the Chiefs, I turned to Mickey Loomis and said, ‘There goes Mahomes.’ I just knew Andy,” said Payton.
That “Andy” was Andy Reid, a coach Payton respected and knew had a keen eye for quarterback talent. The Chiefs had jumped from No. 27 to No. 10, leapfrogging New Orleans to secure their future franchise passer.
“If both were available?” Payton admitted. “It was going to be Patrick.”
Instead, Kansas City walked away with the quarterback who went on to win MVP awards and Super Bowls. The Saints pivoted and selected Lattimore at No. 11. While the immediate sting of missing Mahomes was real, they managed to haul an impressive array of talent from the draft class.
Lattimore won Defensive Rookie of the Year. The Saints also landed right tackle Ryan Ramczyk and safety Marcus Williams early in the draft. In the third round, they selected running back Alvin Kamara, who captured Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, along with pass rusher Trey Hendrickson and linebacker Alex Anzalone.
“It was Lattimore, it was Ramczyk, it was Marcus Williams, and then in the third it was Kamara, Hendrickson, and Anzalone,” Payton said. “We couldn’t pay them all. It was remarkable. And all of them loved football.”
That 2017 class helped extend the Saints’ championship window during the final years of Drew Brees’ career and kept New Orleans among the NFC’s elite. Kamara became the offensive engine. Lattimore anchored the secondary. Hendrickson developed into a premier edge rusher.
It was a draft haul most franchises would celebrate without hesitation. However, the quarterback position defines eras.
Payton has previously called Mahomes the best college quarterback he ever evaluated. He had spent a full day on campus at Texas Tech during the pre-draft process. The Saints were convinced by the talent, the personality, and the competitiveness. But once their interest became known, Kansas City acted aggressively, and New Orleans was left adjusting on the fly.
In the years since, the Chiefs built around Mahomes and sustained championship contention. The Saints, meanwhile, transitioned out of the Brees era, still searching for long-term stability under center.
While their 2017 draft remains a model of roster construction, the near-miss at quarterback stands as one of the most consequential moments in franchise history. New Orleans found stars that night. The Chiefs found a generational quarterback. And nearly a decade later, the Saints are still chasing the franchise signal-caller who slipped away.
