Time nearing for Saints to draft a quarterback

For teams like the New Orleans Saints, the best strategy should be to select a first-or-second-round quarterback within the next year or two. Wait. What?!?! Drew Brees just signed a five-year, $100 million dollar contract. And, the Saints need help on defense NOW! may prevail as common opposition to such a belief.

However, believing any team will fix an entire side of the ball (in this case, the defense) via the draft would be a mistake. The 2012 Saints Defense suffered from systematic issues and improper personnel. Selecting four-to-six fresh hands from the college ranks may slightly improve the unit, but will not cause them to move from last in the league to top ten.

And, yes, the Saints’ primary quarterbacking interests should remain in the hands of Brees. In fact, that’s pretty much the point of drafting a quarterback. Brees was an exception to the rule that teams almost never find franchise quarterbacks via free agency. Typically, a team strikes gold in the draft and does everything in its power to retain top-level signal callers. This should be the New Orleans mindset. Who better to mentor an up-and-coming face of a franchise than the player most responsible for the Saints’ ascendancy to a perennial playoff contender?