Who Did the Saints Want to Move Up For?

I think my favorite part of the draft isn't how things actually fall, but how they almost fall. When we see the selections unfold, we're missing a world of could-bes as teams try to make deals with each other. Apparently, the Saints were trying very hard to move up into the bottom portion of the third round in last month's draft, but for who? To steal Trent Edwards from Buffalo's grasp?

"New Orleans had called about a trade and gave us an offer and we turned it down," said Bills head of college scouting Tom Modrak. The Saints ... were apparently determined to trade back into the bottom of round three. ... New Orleans had the ammunition necessary to pull off a deal. Even though Modrak denied them the opportunity he knew the Saints would continue to try and find a trade partner in that area of the round.

Worse still with just two quarterbacks on the Saints' roster, including aging veteran Jamie Martin, the prospect of them trying to take a young quarterback was very realistic.
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New England was suddenly on the clock and the Bills were on deck. All seemed well. The Patriots had a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback in Tom Brady and a young backup they like in Matt Cassel. The threat of a quarterback pick was minimal. That was until word came down that New England was trading the pick away. Was it New Orleans?

"Our assumption was that the Saints were going to try to make a trade with New England when we heard the Patriots were making a trade," said Modrak. "The Saints were trying to make a trade with everyone in that area. So we assumed it was them and my feeling was New Orleans wanted a quarterback."

The Patriots wound up trading that pick to Oakland, so Buffalo got the guy they were sweating. But they were left certain, until they spotted Oakland running their card up, that it was the Saints, and they were taking Edwards. Could that have been?

The Saints unapologetically draft best player available. And they're not shy about adding quarterbacks they feel have value -- in 2003, they attempted to move up for Chris Simms even though they had Aaron Brooks and Jake Delhomme. Paired with the fact that, no, the Saints don't really have a solid backup and the Edwards pick makes sense. But the team also had an interest in Michael Bush, who was still available at the time.

We'll never know, but that's what makes these hindsight rumors so interesting.