The New Orleans Saints could've taken their franchise quarterback with the No. 9 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
In the pre-draft process, they spent a lot of time with Jaxson Dart, the strong-armed passer from Ole Miss.
Dart felt that the Saints could genuinely choose him.
"Yeah, I felt like my visit with them went good," Dart told reporters on Wednesday. "You kind of have thoughts in your head about what options are realistic, and I felt that was a place that could've panned out. But things didn't work out that way."
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The Saints ended up taking left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr.
At that point, Dart slid to No. 25, where the New York Giants traded back into the first round to take him.
Dart spent just three weeks on the bench behind Russell Wilson before taking over as starter. In his first start, Dart led the winless Giants to an upset of the previously undefeated Chargers.
And now, Dart gets to face the Saints in Week 5.
"There is always a chip on your shoulder any time something like that happens," Dart said about the draft. "But yeah, I'm just going to go out there and play as hard as I can."
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The Saints ended up going quarterback in round two with Tyler Shough out of Louisville. Shough hasn't played yet, as New Orleans has stuck with Spencer Rattler so far through an 0-4 start.
The picture would look very different for both the Giants and the Saints if New Orleans had opted to go QB at that ninth overall pick.
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