This is a direct response to Andrew Juge asking the question would you rather have a team going 4-12 and pick 7th or a team that competes late in December and settles for a pick around 17th (see this post).
The Saints will have neither. They will be out pretty soon, probably early November, but that does not mean they will start losing to get a higher draft pick. Reason number 1 being that Payton has proven not to do that; case in point winning vs TB in the last game of 2014.
The other reason is the team. The team can not have that, not right now. In 2011 the Colts tanked and drafted Andrew Luck. They bounced right back the year after. Were the 2011 Colts bad? Yes. But were they a bad team? No! They were 2 years removed from being a Super Bowl team. Also I bet it took a lot of motivational speeches by the coaches to keep morale high. Then again, had the Colts lost 4 straight Luck might have been on the Browns bench right now.
So can the Saints do that too? No. They were bad in 3 of the last 4 years (counting 2015), they are very young and miss the confidence of experience. How is the locker room? Well it is a lot better now but it was a DISASTER last year. You can’t have morale go down and have people doubt themselves and undo all you did in the offseason by cutting out the locker room cancers. As far as the locker room goes they are more proud of the wins they get than saddened by the losses. The team is rebuilding and has a lot of faith in themselves to be able to be there next year. Bouncing back from a bad loss is a huge confidence booster.
Now the other part of the question; Andrew stated: “Because there’s no guarantee the 7th selected player will be any better than the 17th selection anyway.” That is true, there is no guarantee, but the chance of getting a better player is huge in my book. Sure, a player like Dez Bryant was picked 24th and Jimmy Graham in the 3rd round was arguably even a better pick but the chances of a super star are way better early than late. Fact: The difference between a 6th and a 7th round draft pick is negligible, the difference between a 1st and a 2nd round pick is huge. So the chances are a lot better.
But does that matter? No! Andrew also made a post before the draft on players picked #13 vs players picked #31 (Saints draft positions this year) and I think #31 was even slightly better. Reason being, #31 joins a super bowl ready team who can excel at his position because all the pieces of the puzzle are there.
So the real question is: Can this team morally cope with a tanked season to get a higher draft pick? I think the answers is no. So my conclusion is; the Saints will continue to win, even close games. They do not care about draft position, all they care about is team morale. And a each win carriess way more worth than picking 3 or 4 positions higher. At least for this team as it is now.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
