The preseason has concluded and with only 53 men on the New Orleans roster and negative 43 million in cap space. Jobs are secured, but snaps are not. Here’s who won their battles in the preseason.
QB2: Jalon Daniels beat out Jake Haener for the QB2 spot thanks to his younger age, higher speed, higher throw power, and most importantly: Because of his preseason play. Haener started out ahead but Daniels was much more consistent and his legs added a new aspect for the offense that would be needed without Carr’s accuracy.
HB1: Kendre Miller beat out Alvin Kamara for this role with his tough running and quickness but unfortunately was injured in preseason week 3 and will miss the first two games of the season allowing Alvin Kamara to potentially steal the bell cow role back. If he doesn’t it will be Miller at RB1, with Kamara as 3DRB, and Jamaal Williams as the goal line back.
WR2: This was a battle between Johnny Wilson, the 2024 first round pick, and AT Perry, the 2023 6th round pick. They are both tall, young, playmaking wide receivers with Perry’s edge being his all around qualities and Wilson being taller, faster, and better at high pointing but way worse at route running. This battle held significant wait as well since Rashid Shaheed already locked up the WR3 slot leaving whoever lost this battle to lose a lot of playing time and opportunity. Perry put up a great fight and some may say was let down by the refs as he caught a touchdown that was called incomplete despite his feet looking in. Regardless, Wilson impressed all preseason and will get the nod. The most important thing to note is that the Saints went from a horrendous wide receiver room with Michael Thomas being the 1 while Chris Olave was injured, all the way up to a deep and young group with Thomas being securely stashed as the 5.
TE: JaTavion Sanders had an amazing preseason but Juwan Johnson held on to his starting tight end role which is a big deal since it is his contract year. Sanders looks great but he’ll develop behind the superstar Johnson for now who looks to earn big money and hold Sanders off as long as he can. With Taysom Hill being a full time fullback now, Sanders should still see a fair amount of playing time.
LG + RT: James Hurst, Nick Salvideri, and Graham Barton were competing for the last two starting offensive line spots and the youngins, Salvideri and Barton, claimed the starting role at LG and RT respectively. Hurst is getting up there in age and while Salvideri and Barton don’t have game breaking strength, it is still higher than Hurst as he has regressed. Hurst will fill in across the line regardless of position in the case of an injury, though. A big shoutout to Salvideri who didn’t start at all last season but got some big time experience and developed behind Hurst and Andrus Peat as he now can start just one year after being a fourth round pick.
EDGE2: Opposite of Isaiah Foskey we had a battle between Cameron Jordan, Payton Turner, Josh Paschal, and Alfred Collins. Payton Turner is out for the first 5 games so he lost his chance, Jordan has just lost too much of his quickness to retain that job so it was down to Paschal and Collins. They’re both young and the same overall, Paschal has the quicker step, the strength, and better run stuffing, while Collins has the better pass rush skillset and despite being a rookie is the smarter player. In the end, I chose Collins and he will get the spot to see what he can do. Both him and Paschal are getting 20 AR and in the case of poor play or an injury, we’ll get to see Paschal get a chance.
DT2: This wasn’t a real position battle since Bryan Bresee has it locked up but he tore his labrum and will now miss the first two games. Cameron Jordan is going to fill in since Payton Turner is also injured and Paschal and Collins are edge rushers where as Jordan in his old age has lost his quick step, but not his strength and skill that will help on the inside.
Slot CB + S3: Jordan Howden and Jaylen Carlies battled for these positions and they split with Carlies getting the slot job and Howden getting the third safety gig. The Slot corner is on the field more than the third safety so it’s worth noting Carlies won in a way as an equally fast but bigger and better coverage guy, but Howden will step in when the defense is in big nickel to provide coverage and help against the run more. Howden is also the second slot corner for dime and dollar defenses.
