Interesting tidbit.
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FOX Sports: NFL
@NFLonFOX
The Saints haven’t drafted a QB in the first two rounds in over 50 years
Yep. Archie Manning was the last one.
The Saints had the #1 overall pick in 1981, which was a rough year for QBs. The best available were (in retrospect) Neil Lomax and Wade Wilson. However, the Saints did use a 1981 supplemental pick to select Illinois QB Dave Wilson -- which cost the Saints their 1982 first-round pick (#3 overall). 1982 wasn't much better for QBs, anyway -- Jim McMahon, Art Schlister, and Oliver Luck were top of that crop.
In the 1983 Draft, the Saints would have had the #11 overall pick but traded it to Green Bay in June 1982 for the rights to DT Bruce Clark. Had they stood pat at #11, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino would have been available to them. Tony Eason and Ken O'Brien as well.
Imagine if a Saints fan had a time machine and could go back and go the 1981-83 drafts all over again:
1981, pick 1.01: LB Lawrence Taylor, North Carolina
1982, pick 1.03: RB Marcus Allen, USC
1983, pick 1.11: QB Dan Marino, Pittsburgh
Oh well.