The 2017 NFL Draft ended this past Saturday and LSU Tigers fans were, as scheduled, up in arms. The New Orleans Saints had gone another year without adding a hometown hero, and it seemed almost deliberate. The annual trips made to LSU’s pro day by Saints head coach Sean Payton, general manager Mickey Loomis, and scouting director Jeff Ireland had long ago seemed to become a formality. Why go if you weren’t going to draft any LSU Tigers?
But then lightning struck. Undrafted free agency was in full swing as teams made competing offers to NFL prospects and beat writers struggled to parse through dozens of conflicting reports.