Every team eventually meets with every top prospect, but it’s still good to see the New Orleans Saints getting a quick start on evaluating their options in the 2022 NFL draft. And one player we know to be on their radar is Liberty quarterback Malik Willis, a standout during the first day of practices at this year’s Senior Bowl event.
“I have (met with the Saints),” Willis told Adam West of the Saints Twitter Podcast during his Wednesday morning media availability. When asked how that went, he responded, “Oh it was cool. I mean, we talked a little ball, we talked a little background, that’s pretty much how it went.”
Willis is one of the more exciting quarterback prospects in the 2022 draft, known for his high-velocity throws and ability to make positive plays when protection breaks down and things get off schedule. But he’s also been cast as an undeveloped talent who may need a year of NFL coaching to be ready to start in his own right, much like Josh Allen was coming out of Wyoming a few years back, and what North Dakota State’s Trey Lance experienced as a rookie in 2021.
But maybe the Saints see Willis as a readymade starter. We just don’t know. Rigorous study of his college game tape and formal interviews like this will do a lot to shape his scouting report inside the building. It sounds like this first contact went well.
Strange as it may sound, it somehow feels more likely that the Saints could pick a quarterback high in this year’s draft now that Sean Payton has stepped away from the team — he was the one pushing the Taysom Hill experiment all these years, and Ian Book was his handpicked mid-round quarterback last season. Whoever the Saints hire as head coach to replace Payton will have their own preferences, as will their support staff on offense. It’s very possible neither Hill nor Book figure into their plans if a highly-rated prospect is on the board in the first round. Still, the only certainty we have is that this Saints offseason will be full of intrigue as we march towards the draft in April.
