Once again, the Saints crawled out of cap hell to create enough space to make some notable offseason additions. This included re-signing Chase Young and Juwan Johnson and adding Justin Reid to team with the player he replaced in Kansas City, Tyrann Mathieu. The latter also recommitted to the team on a reworked contract.
New Orleans, however, wanted to retain Paulson Adebo as well. Younger than the other top cornerbacks on this year’s market, Adebo came off the free agency board early via a three-year, $54MM Giants deal. Adebo’s broken femur did not scare the Giants off, as a big market formed for a player who had operated as the Saints’ No. 1 corner — thanks to Marshon Lattimore‘s injury issues — for much of the past two seasons. In the hours that followed, the Saints attempted to pivot to one of the market’s other top CBs as a replacement.
The team showed interest in Charvarius Ward, according to ESPN.com’s Katherine Terrell, but Adebo’s agreement looks to have helped shape the former All-Pro’s market. Despite coming off a down 2024, Ward attracted considerable interest — the Chiefs pursued a reunion — and ended up with a three-year, $54MM Colts deal. Ward did not match Adebo’s at-signing guarantee, locking in $27MM (to Adebo’s $34.75MM at signing), as he is three years older. But teams were interested in the standout ex-49ers and Chiefs cover man.
The Saints did not make a notable cornerback addition in free agency, which came months after they traded Lattimore to the Commanders for a three-pick haul. The team did bring back Isaac Yiadom, who had submitted some quality work before leaving for San Francisco in 2024, but the draft will bring a glaring need otherwise. After carrying a Lattimore-Adebo-Alontae Taylor trio, the Saints need to replenish their coverage cadre.
Needs loomed at receiver coming into free agency, after a season that saw Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed miss extensive time. Both are due back, but the Saints have been unable to rely on receivers for many years now. Their Michael Thomas extension went south quickly, as numerous injuries plagued a player that appeared on a Hall of Fame track at the time he signed the megadeal. Thomas did not play last season. One of Thomas’ former teammates, though, will help fill the void alongside Olave and Shaheed. Brandin Cooks is back on a two-year, $13MM deal that came with $7.75MM guaranteed at signing.
Cooks, 31, is also coming off a season shortened by injury. The oft-traded pass catcher missed seven games during his second Cowboys season; a knee infection shut him down as Dallas’ season shifted off course. Cooks, however, had proven durable — for the most part — in the years prior. The 12th-year wideout, who starred with the Saints from 2014-16 before his trade odyssey began, said (via Terrell) wide receivers coach Keith Williams played a key role in his choosing a New Orleans reunion. A holdover from Klint Kubiak‘s 2024 staff, Williams also attempted to recruit Cooks when he was a staffer at Fresno State.
Williams’ Fresno State years overlapped with Derek Carr‘s, and after Williams’ recruiting effort did not ultimately sway a teenage Cooks, the wide receiver said his belief in Carr was also part of the reason he returned to New Orleans. Reports of Carr’s shoulder injury now threaten to throw a wrench into that partnership coming to fruition, though it is still a bit early here. Regardless of the Saints’ QB situation, they have Cooks (six 1,000-yard seasons) as a proven option complementing Olave and Shaheed.
Cooks’ contract also contains $1.5MM in catch- and touchdown-based incentives, Terrell adds. He would need to reach 60 receptions to trigger the lowest of three $250K bonuses on that end; TD-wise, Cooks would need to score five to begin triggering the $250K bumps. Cooks has not cleared 60 catches in a season since 2021, though he does have three seasons of at least six TDs over the past five years.