Saints rundown: On Sheduer, Terron, the draft and everything else

It’s funny. I sort of feel bad for Shedeur Sanders.

I know that’s a ridiculous sentiment. He grew up with a famous father and had many advantages in getting here, including access to some of the best coaching and quarterback training that money can buy from a very early age. But the spotlight he’s under is crazy. Every little thing he does gets scrutinized and debated and picked apart.

The discourse has reached a point to where he’s either the greatest ever or the worst ever. You even have players arguing over him like they're Skip and Stephen A. And to address one talking point: No, you shouldn’t pat the ball and you’d prefer things are cleaner, but Tom Brady was, at times, a ball patter. It’s probably not the end of the world. But, again, if it has to do with Shedeur, it either has to be the best or the worst thing to ever happen and there is no in between. That makes writing and talking about him incredibly difficult, and I'm sure everything I'm about to say will be siphoned into one of those two categories since it has already happened once, but I'm going to risk it and attempt to thread the needle and speak with some nuance on the topic.

I made a comment on our forum the other day, answering a question about the Saints’ interest in Shedeur, and I replied that I’d be surprised if the team drafted him with the ninth pick. Later that day, I got sent a Tweet where someone took my comment and said I was “hard pushing that the Saints have zero interest in Sanders.” I most definitely didn’t say that. But that’s the atmosphere around this player right now, and, man, that’s unfair to him because I think he’s a good player who has some flaws and needs to develop a little bit, which neither makes him the best prospect or the worst prospect. It just makes him a normal prospect.

So, as far as the Saints go, yes, I would be surprised if Shedeur Sanders is the pick at No. 9. That’s based on a few things. First of all, I think there’s a chance he’s gone before New Orleans picks. The Giants very possibly could pick Shedur, which would put an end to this conversation. But the real reason I would be surprised is because I don’t see someone who looks like a normal top-10 pick. I don’t see Shedeur as a sure thing or someone who is ready to come in and take over a team, and I just want to get one of those feelings with someone I’m picking that high (I like Jaxson Dart even less in that range. Cam Ward is the only guy I see worthy of it). But look … I would have said the same things about Michael Penix and Bo Nix last year, and depending on how you feel about them, perhaps my QB draft value takes should be ignored.

But I will note that I’m hearing much of that same thing from scouts around the league who have historically led me the right direction on player evaluations. So, because of that, I just don’t see a guy I’d historically take with the ninth pick, and it’s my job to share my opinion. I just feel like I'm watching a guy who needs a little work and that makes him feel like a gamble so high in the draft. I like him more later on than I do early in the first. That's it. Take it for what it's worth.

Again, I could be super wrong, and it’s possible that’s the case here. QB values are hard to place, especially in a weak class. Everyone is wrong about draft stuff all the time, including me, and if Sanders is actually there on the board when the Saints pick and the opportunity becomes real, well … anything could happen. I’d just be surprised if he ends up here via the No. 9 pick.

AND WHAT ABOUT DEION’S PUSH?

You’ve probably seen Deion openly flirting with the Saints by now, which has been driving a lot of this conversation. He even has a go-to catch phrase that he says while pointing to Colorado’s own black and gold logo: “I like these colors.” He’s posted pictures on Instagram of him talking to Saints coaches Scott Tolzien (QBs) and Keith Williams (WRs). The list goes on and on.

There’s two possibilities here:

Deion knows the pick at No. 9 and is openly giving it away to anyone who is willing to listen and that Saints are completely fine with him telling everyone they’re planning on picking him and are doing nothing to quiet that down.

Deion is worried about that if the Giants don’t pick Sheduer with the third pick, there’s a very real possibility he drops deep into the first round.

If it is Option 2, whether or not the Saints are a real possibility doesn’t matter when it comes to the noise. The noise is already doing what it’s supposed to do because New Orleans looks like a team that needs a quarterback. So, what I think Deion is doing is telling the world that if Shedeur gets past pick No. 3, you better get ahead of the Saints if you want him.

It’s honestly brilliant. It not only puts pressure on the New Orleans front office as everyone here gets excited about the possibility (though, as we’ve seen, they don’t really react to noise), but it also creates pressure for any team with interest to move up. And if you’re the Saints and you don’t plan to pick Sanders, this is a win-win scenario because another team getting in front of them means a different player gets pushed down.

These are people that know how the game is played and Deion knows how to put his platform to use. It’s loud and it’s probably only going to get louder in the next three weeks.

TERRON’S RETIREMENT

People often ask me who my favorite player is to cover. I often dodge the question because we’re not supposed to have favorites or preferences. But we all are human, and everyone has a list, even if they tell you they do not.

Now that his career is over I feel comfortable saying this … Terron Armstead is somewhere on that list. And the reason is simple: Terron is a man who knows how to treat people and treats everyone who crosses his path with the utmost respect.

For me, he was someone who has been in helping me explain and contextualize the game. He was always there to answer questions and teach about the intricacies of playing offensive line and generally do whatever he could to make me a little less dumb about the game without giving up trade secrets. And you know what? Even after he left, he kept doing those things whenever I needed help. That’s just who he is. He’ll never leave you on read and he never makes you feel uncomfortable about reaching out. And you know what? There was a room full of people at his retirement party on Saturday who probably feel the exact same way.

What Terron would never do is give up information about his injuries, and lord knows I tried and tried and tried. He’d tell me things after he healed up or they no longer mattered. There was the time when he hurt his chest so bad that he lifted up his arm and showed me how it left a — and I don’t know what else to call it — a deep pothole in his armpit. There was another time when he played two or three games with one arm due to an injury — and succeeded. The stories like this go on and on. He joked on Saturday that he was the most injured guy in the NFL history, but he fought through those things and kept himself on the field when other guys would have shut it down.

There’s so much I could say about Terron and his impact, about the kind of teammate he was and the kind of person he is, but it was best reflected at his retirement party on Saturday night. There were a ton of teammates there from both teams. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I spotted Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Cam Jordan, Jermon Bushrod, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Andrus Peat, Marcus Davenport, Mark Ingram, Ted Ginn Jr., Justin Hardee, Marcus Williams, Teddy Bridgewater, Jameis Winston and Lance Moore. There were a bunch of Dolphins, too.

Colston put it best: “Speaks to the type of man he is. And there’s people from all different walks of life here, too.”

DREW BREES

Listen to this speech by Drew Brees. You can easily see what made him an elite leader. Speech will have you hitting those spreadsheets and word files with some extra vigor. If you already saw the clip on social, there’s a couple extra minutes on this one.

PROGRAMMING NOTES

Regular schedule this week. Pods on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. NickCast on Tuesday. Last week got thrown off a bit by the NFL meetings.

I sent out an email to all of our Elite members about RSVPing for our predraft get together on April 21. If you plan on coming, make sure you fill that out. It’s important for us to get an accurate count so we know how much food to order.

Always a good time. Make sure you come through if you’re part of that membership tier (those are the folks that pay $19 month/$199 year).