One quarterback the New Orleans Saints have beenconsistently linked toahead of the 2025 NFL draft? Jaxson Dart, the Ole Miss standout whose stock has continued to rise throughout the pre-draft process. He's now seen as a Round 2 prospect who could hear his name called in Round 1, given demand for the position, but opinions are split on just how he compares to peers like Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) and Jalen Milroe (Alabama).
What's clear is the Saints are keeping tabs on him. The latest nugget linking Dart to New Orleans comes from Sports Illustrated senior reporter Albert Breer:
"We’d written over the past couple of weeks how the situation between the New Orleans Saints and Derek Carr was worth keeping an eye on—then how the team maxing out his restructure (taking his base salary to the minimum and converting the difference into a signing bonus) probably dashed any chance of a trade. What it didn’t dash, though, was the idea New Orleans could draft a quarterback. And along those lines, that Saints coach Kellen Moore was personally at Dart’s pro day isn’t insignificant."
It's true that Moore made time to get to Oxford, Miss. so he could see Dart throw. But that capped a busy week of time spent with quarterbacks coming out of college. Before making the trip to Dart's pro day, Moore spent time throughout the week with Cam Ward (Miami), Quinn Ewers (Texas), and Will Howard (Ohio State). Quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien went to Louisville for Tyler Shough's pro day and worked out both Kyle McCord (Syracuse) and Hunter Dekkers (Iowa Western). Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier was spotted at Florida for Graham Mertz's pro day, too. The Saints have done their homework on this QB class.
So, sure, it's "not insignificant" that Moore was personally at Dart's pro day. But we should note that wasn't the throwing session he had on his calendar last week. If the Saints have an opportunity to improve their QB room in this year's draft, they'll take it, and they should. ...