Saints set to draft best player available in 2026

By Ross Jackson

During their end of year press conference, general manager Mickey Loomis and head coach Kellen Moore were clearly satisfied with the results of the 2025 season and confident about what lies ahead for their club.

One of the best illustrations of that confidence was Loomis’s remark about the team’s anticipated approach to the upcoming NFL Draft. 

“I think the depth of this draft class right now looks pretty good and I think we’re going to be in a position to kind of take the best player that’s available that can impact our team,” he said.  “As opposed to ‘We have to have  this position or that position.’ Obviously, there’ll be positions that we prefer, but I don’t think we’re going to be in a position where we have to get a particular position.”

While the depth of the class’s talent indeed has an impact on draft strategy, the Saints are also in place to attack from a best player available perspective before the success they experienced in 2025.

The 2025 Draft

The most recent Saints draft has the potential to be one of its most consequential in franchise history. Alongside the 2006 and 2017 classes, the 2025 cohort brought in numerous starters on both sides of the football and, most importantly, may have landed the team’s future quarterback in Tyler Shough.

With Shough in place for 2026, the Saints have no need to rush for a quarterback in the first round, something the franchise has not done since 1971 anyway. 

But around Shough, many rookies became key contributors. First-round tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. was a 17-game starter, safety Jonas Sanker stepped into a starting role in Week 2 that he did not relinquish throughout the year, cornerback Quincy Riley saw more in Week 3 before eventually becoming a starter for the majority of the season and linebacker Danny Stutsman was rotated in more and more frequently on defense throughout the year.

With all of these young talents panning out, getting snaps and contributing, the Saints ended up adding starters where needed and depth where desperate. New Orleans saw the sixth-highest snap count for rookies in 2025.

Big Signings 

During the 2025 offseason, New Orleans signed three players to sizable contracts.

• DE Chase Young: three years, $51 million (up to $57 million with incentives)
• TE Juwan Johnson: three years,  $30.75 million (up to $34.5 million with incentives)
• S Justin Reid: three years,  $31.5 million

All three players panned out. While Reid and Young faced some injuries throughout the year, both were vital contributors to the rebound of the Saints defense under defensive coordinator Brandon Staley.

Young’s 10 sacks were a career-high while Johnson notched career marks with receptions (77) and receiving yards (889). Reid also returned an interception for a touchdown for the second time in his career. All three players are now, thanks to their offseason deals, set to return in 2026 with the hopes of building on their success with Staley.

Coaching Staff Development

Each of the examples above don’t happen without a strong coaching staff. While special teams and run game-related coaches may be sleeping a little more restlessly than the others during the staff’s week-and-a-half break before returning for evaluations, the majority of the staff has earned praise.

Quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien played a large part in getting two quarterbacks ready to hit the field throughout the year, EDGEs coach Jay Rodgers did wonders getting Young, Cameron Jordan and Carl Granderson coached up to step into a new system and find success, and several others helped to make major improvements across the roster.

With all three of these successes, which encapsulate several others, the Saints are able to go into the offseason with a calculated approach that will eventually lead them to a 2026 NFL Draft wherein the club will not have to be desperate or feel the pressure to address any one specific position. Instead, Loomis and his front office staff, in tandem with the coaches, will be able to let the draft come to them just as they did in 2025 and hope to build on the successful retooling from 2025.