Isaac Yiadom hasn’t ever gone back to watch film of his younger self, the way that defensive coordinator Brandon Staley did this offseason. But the New Orleans Saints cornerback says he can only imagine the differences.
Staley doesn’t have to imagine. He likes to use Yiadom’s tape as an example for young corners. He shows them Yiadom from 2019. And then Yiiadom in 2025.
“To be playing like he is now,” Staley said, “just shows you that there’s a lot possible if you just hang in there.”
To Staley, Yiadom’s tape shows a stark contrast in confidence. The film is the journey of a player who’s spanned six teams in eight years, one who was on track to be a bust but has blossomed into a reliable veteran. There was Denver, New York, Green Bay, Houston, New Orleans, San Francisco and New Orleans again. Staley and Yiadom have overlapped in three of those spots, starting in Denver, reuniting in San Francisco and now teaming up with the Saints.
Staley uses the phrase “the road less traveled” with Yiadom. And that’s technically true: Not many in the NFL have a career arc quite like the 29-year-old.
But in the literal sense, as he prepares to face his former team Sunday when the Saints host the 49ers, Yiadom has traveled a lot of roads to get to this point. And he’s arrived at his destination.
“If I had to go back, of course I wish I didn’t (have to play for so many teams),” Yiadom said. “But everything happens for a reason. The only benefit of it is I got the chance to play in so many different defenses for so many different (coordinators), see different offenses, play in the AFC, in the NFC.
“I’ve had a chance to play against damn near every receiver in the NFL already. You know what I mean? So there’s no moment too big, no opponent too big. So that’s why things are good.”
Things weren’t always good. A third-round pick in 2018 out of Boston College, Yiadom lasted just two seasons with the Denver Broncos before being traded to the New York Giants in 2020. Another season led to another trade — this time to Green Bay.
Looking back, Yiadom sees his opportunity with the Packers as a turning point in his career. That year, he felt he did everything he could to latch onto a place. He studied hard. He practiced hard. But he primarily saw action on special teams, taking just 9% of Green Bay’s defensive snaps that season.
Headed to Houston, Yiadom was determined to move on. Not from football. But Yiadom realized his mentality was holding him back. If a mistake happened, Yiadom would let it linger too much in his play. He played too carefully, too cognizant of not wanting to make another mistake.
The following summer, Yiadom didn’t make the Houston Texans’ 53-man roster — but he finally had the kind of training camp he wanted.
“I just started playing free,” Yiadom said.
That freedom led to stability. In his second stint with the Saints, he’s now the elder statesman in the cornerback room — even though he’s yet to turn 30. His teammates affectionately call him “Ike.” And Yiadom has loved to be a mentor: Rookie Quincy Riley said the veteran always reminds him to pay attention at all times because you never know who is watching. Yiadom gives advice on what — and what not — to do.
“We’ve got a saying in our room: ‘Do it like Ike,’” said third-year cornerback Rezjohn Wright, who gleefully notes he was graduating high school when Yiadom entered the league.
“(He’s) just been a great example for our program,” Staley said.
Every stop presents the chance to gain experience, form new bonds. When he went to the 49ers last year, Yiadom went to All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner and showed him the handshake that he used to do with Demario Davis on the Saints. That handshake would become their handshake.
Sometimes, Yiadom’s actions will take teammates by surprise. A few weeks ago, Yiadom was on the phone in the team’s cafeteria when then-Saints safety J.T. Gray, now with the Ravens, became surprised once he overheard parts of the conversation. Yiadom was speaking in Twi — the native language spoken in Ghana, which the cornerback grew up speaking at home.
Gray, according to Yiadom, had no idea that English, which the cornerback said he learned partly by watching “SpongeBob SquarePants” as a child, was Yiadom’s second language. Most teammates don’t.
“No, I did not know that,” Wright said. “That’s crazy.”
The Saints, though, are counting on Yiadom to be more than a mentor.
For the last two years, including his first stint in New Orleans, Yiadom served as a high-quality backup — a player who could fill in adequately when needed, leading to 13 starts in 34 games. But this year, Yiadom has been a starter from Day 1. He was one of five Saints to play every defensive snap in Sunday's season-opening loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
It wasn’t the role most envisioned when the Saints signed Yiadom to a three-year, $9 million deal in March. New Orleans would draft Riley in the fourth round a month later, and the outside consensus was that the two would battle in training camp for the third cornerback spot. Yiadom, however, never ceded ground — he took all the starting snaps throughout OTAs and training camp, keeping the rookie at bay.
Eight years into his career, Yiadom is still finding new roads to travel.
Just don't tell him that.
“To tell the truth, I feel like I’m in a competition every single day,” Yiadom said. “I never felt like I won a job or arrived. … I’m going to keep doing what I got to do to stay out there, and that’s how it’s going to be.”