The Saints didn’t wait long to keep tinkering after cutdown day.
Less than 24 hours after Mickey Loomis and Kellen Moore got the roster down to the initial 53, New Orleans dipped into the waiver wire on Monday afternoon and used its No. 9 claim priority to add two players who can help in the trenches right away: defensive tackle Colby Wooden from Indianapolis and offensive tackle Mason Murphy from Chicago.
To clear space, the Saints waived wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. and tight end Treyton Welch. Soon after, the team also unveiled its initial 16-player practice squad, a group that included familiar camp names such as wideout Trey Palmer, international kicker Charlie Smyth, and running back C.J. Donaldson.
The message from the post-cutdown shuffle is pretty clear. Under Moore and defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, New Orleans is treating depth up front and lineup flexibility like necessities, not luxuries.
Wooden is the bigger swing. A 2023 fourth-round pick out of Auburn, he spent three seasons with the Green Bay Packers before a short stay in Indianapolis. He arrives with 47 regular-season games under his belt and 17 career starts, and the Saints need that kind of experience badly.
Bryan Bresee is out for the 2026 season with a torn ACL, and Cameron Jordan is working through a nagging hamstring issue before Week 1 against Detroit. That leaves the interior defensive line thin, and Wooden should slide right into the mix with rookie second-rounder Christen Miller, Davon Godchaux, and Nathan Shepherd. His run defense and his ability to move between 3-technique and 5-technique give Staley another trusted body to work with.
Murphy fills a different need, but it’s just as important. The 6-foot-5, 315-pound Auburn product comes over from Chicago as a developmental swing tackle for offensive line coach John Benton. He started 34 games in college across tackle and center, so he brings the kind of multi-position emergency depth teams love to stash.
The receiver room also took another hit in the process. Waiving Austin a day after he made the initial 53 leaves New Orleans with five wideouts: Chris Olave, Devaughn Vele, Bryce Lance, Barion Brown, and Austin’s spot now gone.
That becomes even more notable with Jordyn Tyson set to start the year on Injured Reserve/Designated to Return because of a persistent hamstring strain, and Mason Tipton on the Reserve/PUP list after offseason leg surgery. The Saints are clearly leaning on youth and speed behind Olave.
That’s where the practice squad matters. Keeping Trey Palmer and Jalen Moreno-Cropper around gives New Orleans quick call-up options if Lance and Brown need time to settle in. And Smyth’s return keeps an intriguing developmental kicker in the building behind newly named starter Daniel Carlson.
With the waiver claims in and the practice squad set, the Saints can finally shift from roster churn to football.
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