New Orleans is counting on big developments from their cornerbacks.
The New Orleans Saints might have a cornerback problem.
Mickey Loomis decided to trade Marshon Lattimore away in the middle of the 2024 season, and while I think it was the right decision given his injury history, age and the way he played down the stretch for the Washington Commanders, it does raise some questions about the current cornerback room.
Right now, the Saints main CB rotation is expected to consist of Alontae Taylor, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Ugo Amadi, Issac Yiadom and Quincy Riley. There are a lot of familiar names there, but I’m not so sure they’re going to play to the level everyone hopes they can.
Taylor had a very promising rookie season where he allowed a 45.3% completion percentage, 283 yards and didn’t give up a single touchdown while breaking up eight passes. He spent virtually every snap on the boundary, but after the 2022 season, the Saints tried to move him to the slot, and it hasn’t quite panned out. In 2023, 718 of Taylor’s 950 snaps came in the slot and he gave up a 66% completion percentage, 836 yards and six touchdowns as the primary defender. They moved him around in 2024 (358 slot, 605 boundary), but he never found his rookie season groove and surrendered 998 yards and six touchdowns. Taylor now enters the fourth and final year of his contract, and he’s going to need to massively improve if he wants to secure a long-term deal in New Orleans.
Kool-Aid McKinstry was very highly touted as a rookie but slipped to the Saints in the second round due to some medical concerns. He turned out to be fine, playing nearly 700 snaps as a rookie primarily on the boundary. He got a lot of run once Lattimore was traded, and he played pretty well, allowing 404 yards, two touchdowns and a 57.9% completion percentage. It wasn’t a stellar year, but he showed flashes and provided some optimism heading into his sophomore season. I think there’s a good chance he could beat Taylor and the rest out for CB1 this year.
Ugo Amadi seems to be the third CB on the depth chart at the moment. He’s spent the last two seasons with the Saints and had a pretty large role in 2024, but didn’t play all that well. He gave up 49 catches on 67 targets for 510 yards and three touchdowns while playing primarily in the slot. It feels like if he earns a starting role, it will be at the nickel with McKinstry and Taylor out wide.
In all honesty, I don’t feel great about that starting rotation. I have high hopes for McKinstry, but Taylor hasn’t given me a lot of optimism these past couple years and I just don’t think Amadi is good enough to start in the NFL.
If Taylor doesn’t improve this offseason, I think there’s a chance we see someone like Isaac Yiadom, who spent a year with the Saints in 2023 and played well, get some reps in his place. In his lone year as a Saint, Yiadom gave up a 50% completion percentage and 289 yards on 44 targets. He went to San Fran in 2024 and didn’t play as much but allowed 24 of his 38 targets to be caught for 315 yards. I don’t see him as every down starter, but he has experience and could be a very solid role player on the boundary, and that’s exactly what I think the Saints are going to need.
Quincy Riley, the Saints’ fourth round pick in the draft, provides another intriguing option on the outside. He was a three-year starter at Louisville and played a lot of good ball. He’s 6-foot, 195-pounds, which is relatively good size for a corner, and runs a 4.48 40-yard dash. He has great coverage skills and decent athleticism (ranked 16th among CBs at the combine in athleticism score), so if he can come in and make plays this summer, he could earn some playing time.
I think McKinstry is the only guy on this team who should be an every down starter, which is what worries me. I think any team would love to have Taylor, Amadi, Yiadom and Riley as backups, but things get a bit sketchy when you’re forced to start two of those guys.
I think adding someone like Asante Samuel (which could very well happen when he’s cleared medically) would provide a huge boost to this room. He’s not going to come in and be a lockdown CB1, but he’s a solid starting caliber player who would give them a whole lot more flexibility.
Another underrated piece in all of this is the loss of Dennis Allen. Obviously, he’s not a good head coach, but he was one heck of a defensive coordinator, and it felt like he extracted the most from his cornerbacks.
If the Saints add someone like Samuel to the mix, I will feel a lot better about this room, but truth be told, right now, I don’t think it’s a very good unit.