The New Orleans Saints only had four draft picks in the 2020 NFL Draft after trading all of their Day 3 picks for Dayton tight end Adam Trautman (the last pick of the third round at No. 105 overall) and they seemed content with not having a pick on Day 3 before trading back into the draft to select Mississippi State quarterback Tommy Stevens. New Orleans sent a 2021 sixth-round pick to the Houston Texans for the No. 240 overall pick (seventh round), which the Saints used to select Stevens. The Saints planned to sign Stevens as an undrafted free agent, but head coach Sean Payton believes he wouldn't make it that far. 

There's a reason the Saints felt so highly of Stevens. They plan to use him in a variety of positions, just like they did with Taysom Hill when he signed with the team in 2017. Like Hill, Stevens is more than just a quarterback. 

"We had a real good vision for this player. He's athletic enough to play in the kicking game. He's certainly someone we feel catches the ball exceptionally well and he's someone I think is in a developmental role more as a quarterback, but we saw him do a number of things," Payton said in a conference call. "A lot of his athletic traits, his height, his weight, his speed, all of those things were really good reviews. But I didn't feel like through the process that we were going to be able to get him."

Stevens played quarterback throughout his college career at Penn State and Mississippi State, even though the majority of his Penn State career he sat behind Trace McSorley. Penn State head coach James Franklin and former offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead thought Stevens was too valuable to keep off the field, creating the "LION" designation for him on the first-team offense. Stevens played quarterback, running back and wide receiver in that role, becoming just the second Penn State quarterback with 100-plus rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in a game. Stevens also threw and caught a touchdown pass in the same game while suiting up for the Nittany Lions. 

Does Stevens' role sound familiar? That's how the Saints have used Hill over the past few seasons, although Stevens enters the Saints offense with a lot more experience as a hybrid player. 

"We always talk about what's the vision, let's describe the vision," Payton said. "(He) Comes in, he's (a) developmental quarterback. We feel like he's a guy that can play in the kicking game. We feel like he's a guy that can play some F, can help both in the passing game and the running game develop behind a guy, like Taysom Hill who's in that role currently and then once the athlete gets here, once the player gets here, we begin working with those skill sets and try to develop those as quickly as possible."