The New Orleans Saints may have found something real in their 2025 draft class, and the ripple effect could stretch well beyond this season. Tyler Shough and Kelvin Banks already stood out from that group, but ESPN’s Ben Solak thinks the next names to pop for New Orleans could be Jonas Sanker and Quincy Riley.
Solak broke down breakout candidates across the league and said that when he reached the Saints, it came down to Riley or Sanker. He wasn’t limiting the conversation to rookies, either. In his view, both defensive backs belonged in the mix among the entire roster, which says plenty about the upside packed into that draft class.
Riley got the nod in the end, and that choice says as much about the Saints’ secondary as it does about his individual ceiling. New Orleans appears set with Kool-Aid McKinstry on one side, and Riley is expected to handle the other. McKinstry still has questions around how high his game can go, but he has already shown enough to be viewed as a starter and has earned trust from the fan base.
Riley is moving in that direction, though he still has a little more proving to do before the confidence level matches the optimism. His rookie season was encouraging, which is why the buzz is building now.
If Solak’s breakout call hits, the Saints would get more than just another good year from a young defender. They’d get a cornerback pairing they can actually build around, assuming McKinstry keeps climbing too.
The fastest way for Riley to take that next leap is to get back to the turnover production that made him such a force in college. Solak put it plainly, saying Riley "has an inarguable nose for the football."
That reputation came from a college career that produced 15 interceptions over five seasons, and he never finished a year with fewer than two picks, even in the six-game 2020 season. As a rookie, he added an interception and forced a fumble. If that playmaking shows up again, Riley could wind up near the top of the Saints’ interception chart and make Solak’s breakout prediction look right on the money.
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