Former Saints head coach Sean Payton believes the NFL Draft could be undergoing a major change in the near future.

During an interview with Colin Cowherd this week, Payton predicted the draft will eventually move to a lottery system where the worst team in the NFL wouldn’t necessarily end up with the No. 1 overall pick.

“At some point, we’re going to move to a lottery system in the NFL,” Payton said.

The subject of the draft came up when Payton was asked about USC quarterback Caleb Williams, who he views as a “generational” player. With Williams being such an impressive prospect, Payton could envision a situation where teams try to tank for him when he becomes eligible for the draft in 2024, but a lottery would prevent that.

“[Williams] is a player that possibly does that [gets the NFL to switch to a lottery], where at the end of the season, here we are in, call it Week 14, and clubs begin to lose to try to put themselves in [position to get the top pick],” Payton said. “That’s not been a problem to date with our league, as we know it. It very well could have been.”

If Payton says a big change could be coming, it’s certainly worth listening to him and that’s because he spent four years (2017-21) on the NFL’s influential competition committee. If the league has ever had any conversations about moving to a lottery system, Payton would definitely know about them and he’d know how serious the talks were.