Camp Battles: How many tight ends make Saints’ 2025 roster?

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

By Ross Jackson

An important position to watch this offseason during New Orleans Saints training camp will be tight end. Some of the top options are already solidified, but a talented crop of players will be competing to provide reliable depth behind them.

At The Top

Some may look at the Saints as having three top tight ends: Juwan Johnson, Foster Moreau and Taysom Hill. However, the addition of veteran and former Philadelphia Eagle Jack Stoll really gives the team four top options.

Stoll is someone that should be seen as an early favorite to help fill out the roster at the position because of his elite physicality and underrated athleticism. He was impressive working with head coach Kellen Moore and run game coordinator T.J. Paganetti last year, which puts him in line to repeat with the two this year.

Hill is a big question mark in terms of availability. A significant late-season leg injury could keep him from being ready as 2025 gets under way.

Johnson and Moreau are locks and are sure to be the focus of the offense at their position. However, Moreau is also coming off of an injury suffered in the final game of the year last season. However, he seems far along in his recovery process. Training camp will be the true proving ground there.

Those Expected To Battle For The 53

One of the biggest factors in this competition won’t be the competitors, but instead the number of roster spots for which they are battling. If Hill starts the season on an injury list and Johnson, Moreau and Stoll are locks, the remaining group could all be jostling for just one place in the roster.

The Saints currently don’t look to have plans for a fullback under their new regime, which could open up another roster spot elsewhere. But roster numbers aren’t usually a fixed sum. If enough players at one position prove they deserve to make it, the numbers will bend to the talent.

Tight ends Dallin Holker and Treyton Welch enter their second years with the Saints while Michael Jacobson enters his third.

All three spent time with New Orleans last year. Holker made the initial 53 while Jacobson and Welch landed on the practice squads at different points in the year. Jacobson has been a mainstay on the squad and as a training camp stand out each year since joining the team.

Holker will look to get more opportunities if he lands a spot on the 53-man roster again while Welch and Jacobson look to crack the active roster this time around.

Newcomers Flying Under Radar

Seventh-round pick Moliki Matavao and free agent UFL addition Seth Green are the only new faces in the Saints’ tight end room going into the season.

Matavao has a decent all-around game, mostly utilized as a blocker during his collegiate tenure before finally being made a part of the passing game once he arrived at UCLA two years ago. The expanded role went well for the 6-foot-6, 260 pound rookie.

With a great frame and experience as a blocker, if he continues to improve there, he could make at least a practice squad spot. But his pass-catching ability, which really came into focus last year, could be the biggest difference maker for him.

Green was added after a year in the UFL, he has played quarterback, wide receiver and tight end. It makes him a unique prospect to enter the fold. It’s unlikely he becomes anything like Hill despite his quarterbacking background, but the other measures of versatility in his game will be his strongest asset.