Star Saints players, celebrity fan Anthony Mackie catch up with Russell Wilson at Pro Bowl

Star Saints players and celebrity fan Anthony Mackie caught up with Russell Wilson at the Pro Bowl:

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Any college football fan knows this adage: always be crootin’, and I do mean always. The best college teams know how important it is to keep recruiting pipelines running on schedule. It’s critical that they recruit new playmakers to replace outgoing talent, and there’s always room for more blue-chip prospects on the roster. Always.

So hopefully the New Orleans Saints are embracing this approach at the Pro Bowl, where they have a unique opportunity to maybe make a big splash. Longtime Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is leading the NFC squad this year, and he won Thursday’s Pro Bowl Skills Showdown off the strength of his arm (now several months removed from surgery to his throwing hand).

As fortune would have it, the throwing competition was judged by a big-time celerity Saints fan: Anthony Mackie, the star of Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney+. And he took a moment to catch up with Wilson before the show started, joined by some of his favorite players — Alvin Kamara and Cameron Jordan, who have also joined Wilson on the NFC roster this week. They even took a nice photo together for the Saints to share online.

Hopefully some words were exchanged with the Saints on the recruiting trail. Jameis Winston is a free agent in March, and Taysom Hill has a lengthy recovery ahead after he racked up injuries last season. Their championship-caliber defense just needs a star quarterback like Wilson to step in and elevate the offense. If the team’s next head coach wants to make a splash, finding a way to trade for Wilson from the doomed Seahawks regime sure would be one way to do it.

Wilson has been linked to the Saints ever since last summer, when his agent gave Seattle a list of teams he’d waive his no-trade clause to move to. And New Orleans is the only team from that list to remain unsettled under center. If Wilson is interested in joining a Sean Payton-less Saints team, and if the Saints are willing to pay up — well, those dots start to connect themselves, don’t they?

But all jokes and speculation aside, we shouldn’t look into this too deeply. Wilson is at this event with these Saints players because they’re on the same all-star roster. Mackie is there because Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, which also owns ESPN, who is broadcasting the event. All four men are celebrities in their own right, and they aren’t about to pass up an opportunity to appear together on social media. It’s probably nothing more than a quick fun photo-op.

Then again, what if it isn’t? What if Kamara and Jordan and Mackie are aware of what’s most important — to always be crootin’?

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