At this point last year, cornerback was a strength for the New Orleans Saints. Heck, on paper, it was arguably the team’s deepest position.
That’s not the case anymore.
Marshon Lattimore was traded in November. Paulson Adebo left in March. And the Saints appear to be relying on youth to take a step forward in 2025. New Orleans drafted Louisville’s Quincy Riley in the fourth round and signed veteran Isaac Yiadom to help offset the previous departures. And it's banking on Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry to dramatically improve under new defensive coordinator Brandon Staley.
Is it a risky bet? Perhaps. But as talented as the Saints were at cornerback in 2024, the unit struggled. New Orleans gave up the sixth-most passing yards last season, and the explosives allowed consistently were too hard to ignore. This was a unit that was going to need some change after how last year unfolded.
Depth chart (name, height, weight, NFL experience)
Alontae Taylor, 6-1, 199, 4
Kool-Aid McKinstry, 5-11, 199, 2
Quincy Riley, 5-11, 195, R
Isaac Yiadom, 6-1, 188, 8
Ugo Amadi, 5-9, 201, 7
Rico Payton, 6-0, 182, 2
Rejzohn Wright, 6-2, 193, 2
Dalys Beanum, 6-1, 200, R
Jayden Price, 5-11, 185, 1
Best case
There are two main reasons for optimism with this group: Potential and the new scheme.
Taylor and McKinstry have shown promising flashes and are still young enough to believe that there’s room left to grow. McKinstry, in particular, stood out during mandatory minicamp with a good feel for disrupting passes. Taylor, meanwhile, seems best suited for the slot — and the Saints have put him there primarily this offseason.
Over the last seven weeks of the season, when Taylor and McKinstry were healthy and starting across from each other, the Saints gave up 229.9 passing yards per game — which was actually better than when Adebo and/or Lattimore were available during weeks 1-8 (249.1). The nearly 20-yard difference was enough to make the Saints’ passing defense slightly below average (20th) instead of bottom-of-the-league bad.
Staley’s scheme may only help matters. McKinstry made a point to note how he, Taylor and Yiadom have played in similar systems before, whether that was college (McKinstry, Taylor) or the pros (Yiadom). Expect the Saints to deploy a match-based zone defense, one that relies more on vision than physicality.
The amount of zone the Saints could run next season might be striking compared to what New Orleans previously ran. While it was a misnomer to say former coach Dennis Allen didn’t like zone — he still ran it 60.6% of the time after taking over for Sean Payton — the Saints ran the fourth-highest amount of man-to-man coverage from 2022-2024.
When Staley was with the Los Angeles Chargers (2021-2023), the Chargers ran zone coverage 67.1% of the time. That put him more in the middle of the pack, but it’s still a notable enough difference to wonder if the philosophy change will benefit the Saints’ secondary.
The ceiling of this group, however, could come down to the third cornerback spot. The Saints used Riley and Yiadom on the outside during the first-team reps across from McKinstry (with Taylor inside), and those two figure to compete for the job ahead of the regular season. But New Orleans is still asking a lot from whoever emerges. Can Riley really be counted on as a fourth-round rookie? Can Yiadom be a reliable starter after spending most of his career as a backup?
The wild card in all of this is Asante Samuel Jr. The former Chargers cornerback visited the Saints this offseason and remains unsigned.
Though there are health questions — he’s coming off neck surgery — Samuel would elevate the overall talent at this position. And under Staley, the 25-year-old played primarily as an outside cornerback — meaning he’d likely play across from McKinstry.
Worst case
The Saints have invested meaningful draft capital in Taylor and McKinstry, taking both in the second round. But the worst-case scenario for the Saints is that neither can adequately hold up in pass coverage.
Despite Taylor’s versatile skill set, it was alarming the way teams went after him a year ago. According to Pro Football Focus, the 26-year-old was targeted 110 times in coverage — trailing only Denver’s Ja’Quan McMillian. And the results weren’t good for New Orleans. Taylor gave up a league-high 998 yards on 79 catches. Taylor’s struggles on the outside were particularly surprising since he was previously adamant that he felt more comfortable there than on the inside.
Even if Taylor bounces back, opposing teams may very well go after Riley or Yiadom. That spot is a far greater concern at the moment. The track record for rookie cornerbacks able to be a net positive from Day 1 isn’t super promising, especially for those picked in the mid rounds. And though Yiadom has held up when asked to start, the Saints would probably prefer if he was more of a depth piece.
The secondary could bottom out again real quick if the corners don’t take a leap.
A prediction in 10 words or less
Saints sign Samuel but still struggle in coverage