NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

OFF SEASON CHANGES

The front office signed running back Travis Etienne and drafted Jordyn Tyson in round one to fully arm Shough for his first year as the unquestioned starter. Tyson is a wide receiver taken at pick 8 who recorded 711 yards and 8 touchdowns in his final college season with Arizona State. The Saints also added tight end Noah Fant, punter Ryan Wright, DT John Ridgeway, Guard David Edwards and LB Kaden Elliss who is a nice replacement for Demario Davis.

QUARTERBACKS

The Saints look to have found a really solid QB in Tyler Shough. In the last five games of 2025 he led the Saints to a 4-1 record and threw 5 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions. That was all with very limited receiving options, something the Saints have tried to fix over the off-season. Shough’s rookie year ranked 23rd of 33 qualified quarterbacks in EPA per play and 20th in success rate, but again that was with a very weak receiving corps minus Chris Olave. He’s got rookie Jordyn Tyson to pair with Olave now and I’m quite bullish on how the Saints will go this year, especially in a weak division.

RUNNING BACKS

Travis Etienne arrives from Jacksonville to pair with a full offseason of continuity under Kellen Moore, though he was 27th in yards per carry among qualified backs last year — an upgrade in name more than pure efficiency for this backfield. Alvin Kamara is still a Saint but is definitely showing signs of regression – he averaged just 3.6 yards per carry last season and only added 186 receiving yards – both career lows. Etienne will be the lead back especially with Kamara dealing with an injury to start the season.

RECEIVERS

Chris Olave caught 100 passes for 1163 yards and 9 touchdowns despite a shaky supporting cast, and first-round rookie Jordyn Tyson joins alongside third-round tight end Oscar Delp and additional Day 3 skill-position picks. Tyson looks like a real talent and showed some great signs throughout training camp before his injury. Tight end Juwan Johnson is also a nice piece in the passing game. New Orleans was 23rd in the rate of plays gaining 10-plus yards and dead last in 20-plus-yard plays last season, a genuine big-play drought this draft class was built specifically to fix.

DEFENSE

New Orleans was third in third-down conversion rate allowed to opponents last season, a mark that should regress toward the mean in 2026. However they have lost some crucial components of the defense in Demario Davis and Cam Jordan, both 37-year-old free agents, needing new additions like defensive tackle Christen Miller to bolster the run defense and replace real leadership and production up front this season.