Both the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints wanted Tommy Stevens as a UDFA

The New Orleans Saints drafted Tommy Stevens in the seventh round, but that wasn’t the team’s ideal plan to add the quarterback.

The Carolina Panthers wanted to sign Tommy Stevens as an undrafted free agent following the 2020 NFL Draft. However, the New Orleans Saints had a different plan for former Mississippi State quarterback.

Stevens, who was drafted in the seventh round of the draft, was originally meant to go undrafted, as at least two teams looked into signing him following the event’s conclusion.

The Taysom Hill-like athlete is expected to fill into Hill’s role throughout his career in the Big Easy. Having watched Hill thrive last season, Payton seemingly wanted Stevens to slot in as the future of the do-it-all role.

That said, entering the seventh round, there was one problem — the Saints didn’t have a pick; they had no way of getting Stevens until after the draft. They had to trade a future pick to bring in the pick that they used to draft Stevens.

More from Who Dat Dish

• Saints 2022 Training Camp: Top 4 takeaways from Day 8
• Saints need to extend C.J. Gardner-Johnson ASAP
• Chris Herndon signing is low-risk, high-reward for NOLA Saints
• Saints News: Tyrann Mathieu return and Chris Herndon signing
• Saints Training Camp: Throwing punches won’t help Trevor Penning win the LT job

But, had Stevens may have said too much about his future plans to Payton.

Stevens talked about his experience on the “Hangin’ With Hester” radio show in Baton Rouge on Friday.

“Payton started to make a pitch to Stevens about why Stevens should sign with New Orleans after the draft, that the team had a ‘unique vision’ for him as a player and thought he would be a fit in the organization. There was just one problem,” Luke Johnson of NOLA.com said.

That problem was that the Carolina Panthers had interest and Stevens may have ended up there had Payton not intervened and picked the versatile signal-caller.

“At the time, I thought I was actually going to have a better fit in another place. So, as polite and respectful as I could, I told coach Payton, ‘Hey, I think my best situation might be going a different route.'” Stevens continued once on the show.

Hearing that, Payton clearly wasted no time getting a pick and solving the problem. Stevens was the team’s fourth pick in the draft, coming after Cesar Ruiz, Zack Baun and Adam Trautman, and their only pick in the last three rounds. Three of the four picks involved a trade.

A quarterback in college, Stevens always was a competent runner, and now, he’ll show that at the professional level for the New Orleans Saints.