Looking ahead to the 2026 Draft, how would you feel about drafting Nussmeier?

Before I start with my hypothetical scenario, I need to clarify that I'm rooting for the team to win games now and I'm not concerned with drafting a quarterback in the first round if Rattler or Shough end up looking like starters. There's a lot of season to play out, and I'm rooting for our guys to take the job or not give the front office the opportunity to replace them. If we feel comfortable at the QB position, there are plenty of other holes to fill.

That said, I've seen an interesting shift regarding the national coverage of the upcoming draft. With Arch Manning's sub-par performances against Ohio State and San Jose, and the likely outcome being that he stays at Texas past this season, most mocks aren't selecting him in the 2026 draft. Since then, the narrative and projection has mostly shifted toward Garrett Nussmeier being drafted by the Saints in the 2026 season.

Here is CBS Sports' Mock Draft, "The Draft Scout's" Mock Draft, and Walter Football's Mock Draft. There are surely several others, but I'll leave those for you find. A popular YouTuber named Bengal also regularly does draft content throughout the season; in his mock draft, he used the Saints 2nd overall selection on Garrett Nussmeier.

CBS Sports points out that, "There is a potential conflict of interest given that his father, Doug, is the offensive coordinator for the Saints."

"The Draft Scout" noted that, "Nussmeier is an ideal fit for Kellen Moore and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier (dad of Garrett)."

Additionally, Bengal says in his video that, "This is almost more for the storyline than anything else- I'm going with Garrett Nussmeier, quarterback out of LSU, to stay in Louisiana. But also, to play for his dad who is the offensive coordinator for the Saints. Kind of an interesting connection there; you kind of think, 'would the Saints really do that?'…"

It's becoming a more prevalently known factoid that Garrett is the son of our offensive coordinator, Doug Nussmeier. As the season unfolds, I'm sure it will become another fun factoid that he is from the great state of Louisiana and grew up a fan of the New Orleans Saints.

As Saints fan who is looking to potentially be picking inside the top 5 picks of the NFL Draft for the first time in several years- how would you feel if our team was to select a potential franchise quarterback whose father is the offensive coordinator of the team? Like, if we get to the point that the best QB on the board happens to be the son of our offensive coordinator, would you be more concerned about that conflict of interest, or would you think that the familial dynamic be potentially beneficial to the on-field performance?

This hypothesis and question are assuming a lot of things that have to happen: the Saints would likely have to suck this season, Garrett would need to play more consistently and make himself worthy of that pick, Kellen and the Saints' FO would have to actually love him more than any other QB on the board. But I think it's an interesting development and wanted to see how the fanbase feels about it.

I guess my main takeaway is that, while the national media seems to love to hate this team, they can't stop making juicy narratives and storylines about our future. First it's, "Manning fulfilling his destiny by coming home!", now it's, "the LSU Heisman candidate stays in Louisiana and is coached by his dad!" Even the subplot of Rattler hopefully exceeding expectations or Shough potentially taking over (both attempting to prevent the Saints from drafting the aforementioned players) are pretty riveting plots to follow through this season. I think we're quickly going to become on of the most interesting teams in the league very soon.

As for the Nussmeier connection, I'm cool with drafting him if he shows significant growth through the season and is firmly in the top 3 QB's on the board. We need to see the LSU offense open us through the SEC portion of the schedule and for him to make the big time throws that Burrow and Daniels were famous for. As with everything, they'd be geniuses if we're winning, and they'd be morons if we're losing.