The Saints are headed into the final weekend of preseason with the roster math getting tighter by the hour.
New Orleans is 0-2 in preseason play and closes things out Friday at the Dallas Cowboys before every NFL team has to get down to a 53-man active roster by Sunday afternoon. That’s the part of the calendar where surprises start showing up, and around the league those surprises are often veterans with real experience who simply get squeezed out.
For the Saints, three names fit that description: Jordan Howden, Isaac Yiadom and Tyree Wilson.
Howden is in the thick of a crowded secondary battle, with as many as eight players chasing what may be only two or three spots left. He’s been one of the team’s more reliable special teams pieces, but the defensive production has never quite matched the opportunity.
In three NFL seasons, all in New Orleans, Howden has 2 interceptions - both coming in 2024 - along with 7 pass breakups, a fumble return for a touchdown, 1 sack and 2 tackles for loss. Even after appearing in 16 games in 2025, he played only 25% of the Saints’ defensive snaps.
He’s worked both deep safety and slot duties, but the Saints have better options at those spots, which leaves him fighting to prove he’s more valuable on special teams than the other defensive backs in the mix.
Yiadom’s situation looks even more fragile because the depth chart around him has changed. Kool-Aid McKinstry and Quincy Riley are set to start, Martin Emerson looks like the likely third corner, and Jayden Price has put together a strong camp to push himself onto the roster picture.
Jonas Sanker is getting the first shot at filling the role left by Alontae Taylor, while Price, Julian Blackmon and rookie Lorenzo Styles are also in that group. Yiadom was the primary outside corner opposite McKinstry last season, but after three games he was replaced by Riley because of ineffective play.
Over the final 13 games, he played just seven defensive snaps. With Emerson now on the roster and Price emerging this offseason, Yiadom could be the odd corner out if the Saints decide not to keep a fifth one or use that spot elsewhere in the secondary.
Wilson is the newest face on this list, and his case is the most striking because of where he came from. New Orleans acquired him in an offseason trade with the Las Vegas Raiders, sending a 2026 fifth-round pick and getting Wilson plus a 2026 seventh-round selection back.
The former No. 7 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft was supposed to get a fresh start after being labeled a draft bust. Instead, he hasn’t done much in camp or preseason to change that perception.
Chris Rumph II has been shifted to linebacker and is hardly safe himself, but Wilson still may not have shown enough to stick. Anfernee Jennings appears ahead of him, and first- and second-year players Michael Heldman, Garrett Nelson and Fadil Diggs have all flashed in ways Wilson has not.
If the Saints keep a fifth edge rusher behind Chase Young, Cameron Jordan, Carl Granderson and Jennings, that spot could go to Heldman, Diggs or Nelson instead of Wilson.
For all three players, the final weekend is about the same thing: surviving the numbers game.
In Other News...
Saints Backfield Suddenly Has A New Reason For Optimism
Within days of arriving in New Orleans, Zamir White was already part of the conversation in the Saints backfield. The running back came over from the San Francisco 49ers in a player-for-player trade and got on the field quickly enough to make an impression in the Saints final preseason game, a 27-24 win over the Dallas Cowboys. With injuries thinning out the room, the team needed signs that the ground game could still hold together, and White offered one right away.
He needed only his second carry in a Saints uniform to find the end zone, breaking off an 11-yard touchdown that added a little more life to a rushing attack that had been searching for stability. The performance came with contributions from several backs, which is exactly the kind of depth New Orleans has been trying to build while navigating the injury issues around it. For a unit that entered the preseason with questions, Whites fast start gave the Saints a reason to feel better about what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Cutdown Fallout Starts With One Receiver Saints Fans Just Saw
The Cowboys 27-24 preseason loss to the Saints also pushed their roster decisions into sharper focus, and rookie wide receiver Jordan Hudson is one of the first names drawing attention. Hudson had only limited production in exhibition play, and with cutdown time arriving soon, his path to the 53-man roster looks narrow after a summer spent trying to carve out a role.
What comes next for Hudson remains the real question. He could still land on a practice squad, either in Dallas or elsewhere, or choose to take advantage of the transfer option that would allow him to return to college football for another season. For Saints fans who just saw him across the field, he may end up being one of those preseason names worth remembering even after the roster math is done. [Read more 🡒]
Saints End Preseason With Two Roster Questions Suddenly Worth Watching
The Saints closed the preseason with a 27-24 win over the Cowboys, and the result came with the kind of late-August details coaches like to see: multiple rushing touchdowns, two field goals from Daniel Carlson and enough productivity on both sides of the ball to make the final tune-up feel worthwhile. It was the sort of game that offered a glimpse of depth rather than a clean answer, with Zach Wilson and Spencer Rattler both among the notable contributors as New Orleans sorted through its final evaluations.
Now the attention shifts from the scoreboard to the roster, where a couple of position battles have become suddenly more interesting after the way the preseason wrapped. The Saints still have decisions to make before the regular season arrives, and the encouraging part is that several players gave the staff something to think about in a game that mattered more for standing than for style. [Read more 🡒]