There were a number of voices in the discussion — general manager Mickey Loomis, college scouting director Jeff Ireland, and various position coaches — but the call ultimately came down to head coach Sean Payton. And he elected to move forward on a bold draft-day trade, exchanging the Saints’ 2018 and 2019 first round picks to go get pass rusher Marcus Davenport.
A year later, Payton is pleased with how things have turned out.
“We like it,” Payton told Mike Triplett of ESPN. “When he played last year, we feel like we saw some real good traits, to where we feel like this guy is gonna be a dominant player for us.