With the Saints only 17 days from their regular season opener, the focus lands on a new face with a familiar job: Ryan Wright, the punter now wearing No. 17 in New Orleans.
The Saints open 2026 on the road against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Sept. 13, and Wright arrives after being signed in free agency this offseason. New Orleans is counting on him to stabilize a punting spot that has been in rough shape since Thomas Morstead left five years ago.
Wright is 26, from San Ramon, Calif., and stands 6-foot-3, 245 pounds. He came to Tulane after handling both quarterback and punter duties in high school, then turned himself into one of the most productive specialists in the American Conference.
In four seasons with the Green Wave, Wright averaged 44.5 yards per punt. His 45.2 average and 2,352 punting yards in 2020 led the conference, and he followed that with an even bigger 2021, when his 47.5 average earned him back-to-back 1st Team All-AAC honors.
Wright entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2022 with the Minnesota Vikings and won the punting job right away. He averaged 47.4 yards per kick that season, with just one touchback and 32 punts downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Over four seasons in Minnesota, Wright built a reputation as one of the league’s better punters. His 2025 season was the best of his career, with a 49-yard gross average and 44.5-yard net average. For his NFL career, he has a 47.9 gross average and 42.5 net average, along with 101 punts downed inside an opponent’s 20 and only 16 touchbacks.
That production is why New Orleans went after him, signing him to a four-year, $14 million contract this offseason. The Saints have rotated through four different punters over the last five years, and Wright was brought in to change that story. His 2026 salary cap hit is $1.88 million.
In Other News...
Kellen Moore Sounds Just Like Saints Fans On This Strange LSU Move
Zxavian Harris never got the chance to suit up for the Saints after landing on the NFI list, and now the former undrafted free agent is heading back to college football with LSU. The move is an unusual one on its face, but it fits into a broader trend of players who have taken a step into the pro game and then found their way back to campus, with Harris part of the 2022 high school class granted a fifth year of eligibility.
Kellen Moores reaction sounded a lot like the one plenty of Saints fans probably had when the news surfaced, because the whole path raises questions about how these decisions are handled and how much regulation really exists around them. For New Orleans, it is another reminder that roster-building and player movement are not always clean, linear processes, especially when a young players career can veer back toward college after already entering the NFL orbit. [Read more 🡒]
Three Saints Have Forced Their Way Into The Roster Conversation
With the preseason winding down against Dallas, the Saints have a few roster decisions that suddenly look a lot less straightforward than they did a few weeks ago. Bub Means, Jayden Price and Jaylan Ford have all taken advantage of their chances in camp and preseason action, forcing the coaching staff to take a hard look at where they fit heading into cutdown day.
Means has come back from injury and immediately made noise, leading New Orleans in receiving yards in the preseason opener. Price has helped himself in the secondary with steady play and an interception, while Ford has stood out at linebacker with tackles and a pick, enough to factor into the Saints decision-making and even help prompt the trade of a veteran linebacker. The final preseason game should tell the rest of the story, but all three have already done plenty to change the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Backup Quarterback Battle Suddenly Looks Far More Troubling
The preseason scoreboard around the NFC South offered a mixed bag, but the Saints had the kind of night that leaves a staff searching for answers. While Tampa Bay got a solid showing from Jalon Daniels, Carolina leaned on Kenny Pickett and Atlanta saw encouraging signs from rookie Jack Strand, New Orleans was blanked by the Rams and the quarterback play never settled into anything usable.
For a team already sorting out its depth chart, the bigger concern was how little clarity came out of the backup quarterback competition. The Saints still have work to do there, and after a game like this, the battle behind the starter looks less like a position fight and more like a problem that is not close to being solved. [Read more 🡒]