Tag: Alontae Taylor

Paulson Adebo progressing well from devastating injury

Paulson Adebo shared an update on his recovery from a broken femur. The Saints’ starting cornerback is progressing well before free agency:


Paulson Adebo went down with a broken femur midway through last season against the Denver Broncos, and it was the last time we saw the New Orleans Saints cornerback in 2024. There are some that question if it is the last time we will see him in a Saints uniform.

Adebo suffered the injury in the seventh game of the year and is showcasing his recovery process after the season. The cornerback shared a video clip of himself on social media running on the treadmill at 21 miles per hour.

This is a great sign after a bad leg injury. Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry are your top returning corners on the roster. Seeing that Adebo is about to enter free agency, that video was an advertisement to the entire league that he’s healthy and ready to help his team — whoever they might be.

It would make sense for the Saints to attempt to retain Adebo. Neither Taylor nor McKinstry have shown they’re above competing for their spot in the starting lineup. New Orleans should reinforce the position after trading Marshon Lattimore. The only other corners under contract for 2025 are Rico Payton and Rejzohn Wright, who spent his year on injured reserve.

While his value on the free agent market remains to be seen, Adebo could also benefit from a return to New Orleans. It would likely be a short-term deal and allow him to build his stock with a healthy year of quality game tape. He could also be priced out of the Saints’ budget. He’s been one of the most productive ballhawks in the NFL since he was drafted with 43 passes defensed in 52 games played. But until that time comes, it’s just good to see Adebo moving at high speed again.

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Alontae Taylor received a bump in his base salary for 2025

One of the Saints’ crucial cornerbacks has received a pay raise in his 2025 base salary due to performance escalators:

The New Orleans Saints have had some great opportunities to develop defensive backs in the past few seasons, and one of the ones who has panned out well so far is Alontae Taylor. For this production and for being utilized at a high rate, he will receive a $1.66 million increase to his 2025 base salary due to what the NFL regards as the “Proven Performance Escalator”.

The report via Katherine Terrell of ESPN provides some context regarding what this escalator is, as it, “gives second to seventh round picks pay raises in their fourth year based on cumulative play time.”

When it comes down to players who do deserve a higher base salary, it tends to be Day 2 and Day 3 rookie selections, especially those who are played at a high rate but are not compensated as well as others for doing so. Alontae Taylor has been a strong presence at cornerback for the Saints in his first few seasons, and no doubt makes sense as a recipient of this escalator.

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Alontae Taylor has been one of the worst tacklers in the NFL

Alontae Taylor has more missed tackles than any cornerback this season, with the highest miss rate of any defender. He must clean it up if he’s going to be someone they can rely on:

You never want to be on the wrong side of this stat. Alontae Taylor has been one of the worst tacklers in the NFL this year, and the New Orleans Saints have felt the impact in both the running and passing game.

The cornerback has a 22 missed tackles, for a missed tackle rate of 20.2%. His 22 missed tackles are the most for any cornerback. His missed tackle rate, however, is higher than any defender with at least 100 tackling attempts.

When you think about a bad run defense, you typically think about the defensive lineman not getting push or linebackers not filling the gap efficiently.

While that’s at play as well, Taylor is a physical player who spent about half of the season in the slot. That put him in the run game more than his snaps at outside corner. Missed tackles on the perimeter can easily lead to a runner getting the edge and gives more of an opportunity for a big play.

In the passing game, that adds more yards after catch. Tackling has been one of the bigger issues for the New Orleans Saints. In Taylor’s case, both are prone to lead to big plays. We all know that’s another issue that has plagued the Saints. He must clean it up if he’s going to be someone they can rely on in a starting role.

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Saints defense struggled in familiar areas in first half vs. Raiders

Poor tackling and big plays allowed plagued the New Orleans Saints defense in the first half versus the Raiders. That sounds familiar:

The Las Vegas Raiders started the game off hot offensively. On their first possession of the game, the Raiders held the ball for over nine minutes. A booth review took a potential touchdown off the board, and the New Orleans Saints stalled the drive at the one yard line.

New Orleans was able to keep the Raiders out of end zone until the end of the half, but Las Vegas still scored on three of their four possessions. New Orleans allowed big plays to fuel Las Vegas’ offense.

Typical issues such as tackling continued to appear. Ameer Abdullah is already at 71 rushing yards, which is the most he’s ran for in a game this year. The mixture of poor tackling and explosive plays were the biggest detriment to the defense in the first 30 minutes.

The Saints enter halftime only down 3 points. A big reason for that was the ability to stop the Raiders on the initial possession. If Las Vegas scores a touchdown there, it’s a different game.

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No quit in 5-10 Saints: ‘There’s a lot of guys who are playing for something’

The Saints are eliminated from playoff contention, but Darren Rizzi makes it clear ‘there’s a lot of guys who are playing for something’

The New Orleans Saints have no shot of making the playoffs, so some may feel the team has nothing to play for. But interim head coach Darren Rizzi pushed back on that narrative.

You may see that as something he has to do. You wouldn’t be wrong, but Rizzi isn’t being facetious when he says, “There’s a lot of guys who are playing for something.”

Spencer Rattler, Kendre Miller, Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry are some of the best examples of players who are playing for something to close out the season.

Those are the types of players Rizzi described: “We have a lot of younger players playing right now.” At this point, the Saints are looking, “To be able to evaluate those guys from the quarterback right on through the rest of the positions.”

Rattler is looking to make a mark that he can still be viewed as a developmental quarterback. Can Miller be the compliment the Saints need to Kamara and possibly take the reigns in the future? Are Taylor and McKinstry the young cornerbacks who will lead New Orleans to a new era?

Next year’s coach will look at these games to determine how he wants to construct next year’s roster. Many players don’t have the luxury of mailing it in despite the playoffs being out of reach.

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Packers’ big-play ability set to test Saints secondary’s vulnerability

The Packers have the most passing plays to gain 40 or more yards, and the Saints are one of the worst teams at stopping them. That’s a mismatch:

Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry have shown some positive things at cornerback since the New Orleans Saints traded away Marshon Lattimore. There have been lapses in technique occasionally too, however. The one thing the Saints secondary has objectively struggled with is stopping big plays. That will be challenged against the Green Bay Packers.

New Orleans has allowed the third-most passing plays of over 40 yards this season. Because of that, they’ve also allowed the fifth most yards. On Monday Night Football, they have to line up across from the passing attack with the most gains of 40-plus yards this season.

Green Bay has two wide receivers (Christian Watson and Jayden Reed) with receptions that gained more than 60 yards. Romeo Doubs has a 39-yard reception and Dontayvion Wicks caught a 36-yard pass earlier this season, too. Essentially, the Packers have four receivers who can stretch the field and a young quarterback who isn’t afraid to lean on them.

It’s not just about air yards when thinking about explosive plays. New Orleans has struggled with corralling receivers at the catch point as well, which has led to too many yards gained after the catch. When it comes to the Green Bay receiving corps, they have the ability to stretch the field and make a play with the ball in their hands. The Saints’ young duo must be on top of their game.

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Saints should consider recently-waived former first round cornerback

Why the Saints should consider bringing in recently-waived cornerback Emmanuel Forbes, the former Washington Commanders first-round pick:

The New Orleans Saints’ cornerback room has had quite a bit of shuffling in recent weeks, with Paulson Adebo out for the year and Marshon Lattimore being traded off to the Washington Commanders. This has left the Saints with only five cornerbacks on the 53-man roster, two of whom were just brought there in Shemar Jean-Charles and Ugo Amadi, as they both came from the practice squad. The full depth at the position is something like:

  • Alontae Taylor
  • Kool-Aid McKinstry
  • Rico Payton
  • Shemar Jean-Charles
  • Ugo Amadi (nickel)

While Alontae Taylor has played well and been exceptionally explosive, and Kool-Aid McKinstry has been solid, there has been ups and downs with the rest of the group.

Ugo Amadi against the Cleveland Browns allowed 11 receptions on 12 targets (91.7%) for 96 yards, allowing a 100.0 passer rating, while also picking up four missed tackles on 11 attempts (36.4%).

Rico Payton absolutely deserves more playing time from what we saw in preseason, as he only has 21 snaps so far this year in the four games he has been in.

Finally, Shemar Jean-Charles, who in two games has allowed 7 receptions on 10 targets for 143 yards and a touchdown, worth a 106.3 passer rating against, with 1 missed tackle on 5 attempts. While he does have an interception, that was about the extent of his highly positive plays.

So, why should the Saints consider adding Forbes?

Well, first off, you are wasting absolutely nothing to bring him in and just see if you can spend some time developing him. He would end up being a waiver claim, which means he would be added with his current rookie scale contract. The need at corner is there beyond the top two at the position, and rather than use draft capital on the position (if possible), maybe you could snag someone serviceable off waivers and make other decisions with that draft capital. If he doesn’t pan out, you lost no picks and can revert back to drafting one anyways (or re-signing Paulson Adebo if that is their preferred alternative).

You have six regular season games left this season, and the ability to develop cornerbacks at a high rate from what we have seen with Marshon Lattimore, Alontae Taylor, Kool-Aid McKinstry (so far), and even Isaac Yiadom. The scheme allows for cornerbacks to flourish as they run the 4-2-6 lineup, allowing for an extra defensive back to come on the field at the expense of a third linebacker, hence why Willie Gay or Pete Werner sub off for presumed pass downs. Ultimately this gives the Saints a chance to grab and try to develop a young cornerback without trading anything away in the process.

What has gone wrong so far in his first two seasons?

One of the biggest issues for Forbes is he has been asked to play a lot of off-coverage, where he drops before the snap and is asked to stick with the receiver. His speed and lower weight would lead you to believe this is the right call, so the logic behind that decision is sound, but the receivers have been able to leverage short routes on the outside to counter that. So how do you fix it? You let the guy who ran a 4.35 40-yard dash shadow the receiver, and consider letting him press on a few snaps to see if he can offset the timing.

The other issue in his game is he has struggled with allowing the deep ball, giving up 16.3 yards per reception in his rookie year, and this season allowing 13.3 per reception on a limited snap count. Does most of this fall on him and his inability to contest at the catch point? No doubt. But you also have to consider that the safeties behind him in Quan Martin and Jeremy Chinn have had down years in coverage as well, and you have to have some level of trust in your deep secondary to cover you over the top. The Commanders have run right around league average percentage zone coverage at 69.4%, which is slightly on the higher end of that middle group of teams. This could also be contributing to those problems as well, as zone is much more reliant on safeties in the deep game than man is, which does not suit Forbes whatsoever.

This is a similar result to what has happened with Shemar Jean-Charles and Ugo Amadi, as those two have run the highest percentage of man coverage on the team (61.8% and 62.0% respectively) and that has led to them struggling, even with Tyrann Mathieu deep. Then you look at Alontae Taylor, someone with a similar frame and play style to Forbes, and he has 57.9% zone coverage, the 101st highest percentage compared to 58th and 61st.

Why would the Saints be an optimal fit?

My belief is the Saints would be the perfect chance for Forbes to reset, find a new way to play the game, and develop with some other great defensive backs. He would have the chance to learn from a player with a similar frame and play style in Alontae Taylor, who has worked both in the slot and outside, so maybe that is ultimately where Forbes resides due to his speed and size.

The Saints have a former long-time defensive backs coach in Joe Woods running the show at defensive coordinator, and another one in Marcus Robertson working as the secondary coach. This would give Forbes the chance to learn from two minds that have specifically tailored their craft to get the best out of their secondary, which is exactly what he needs at this point in time.

Additionally, there is room for playing time as he grows over time. As previously mentioned, the cornerback position is extremely slim for the Saints, and for the future they need someone to come in and play slot with Alontae Taylor moving outside. This provides Forbes immediate opportunity to get reps if he is ready, or if not, a chance for something to work at.

Finally, Forbes would have two former teammates from his last squad to work with as well, in Chase Young and John Ridgeway III. Chase Young has been exceptional at getting pressure this season and has had a large role with the Saints over the course of the season. John Ridgeway III has also seen a snap bump in recent games, as he has 153 defensive snaps and 35 special teams snaps so far in 8 games played.

All of these could be boons to the success of Forbes, and could all help him develop into the potential he had coming into the NFL draft only one and a half years ago. Why not take a shot and see what happens if you’re the Saints?

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Rams receiving corps is the next test for Saints’ young secondary

The Saints’ young secondary will see their first true test since Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry took over at the outside corner spots:

The end of the season is an important time for the New Orleans Saints secondary. Tyrann Mathieu is established, and he is the only member of the secondary who should feel confident about their future in New Orleans.

This is the first time this version of the Saints secondary will genuinely be tested. There’s no Marshon Lattimore to feel comfortable about. Paulson Adebo is on injured reserve. The Saints are now led on the outside by Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry.

Those two haven’t faced a pair of receivers like Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua before. Matthew Stafford isn’t going to catch you by surprise. He’s going to lean on his two lead receivers, so you can expect both corners to be targeted.

This will be a tough challenge for both Taylor and McKinstry. While it isn’t a make or break game, a strong performance would work wonders for them moving forwards.

At this point, everyone is auditioning for the next coaching staff. There’s not a big contract or a player entrenched in their role outside of Mathieu. Having a good showing against this caliber of receivers would generate optimism in whoever the coach will be.

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Week 13 is Alontae Taylor’s chance to make up for last year’s lowlight

Alontae Taylor was benched against the Rams last year. This is the Saints’ cornerback opportunity to replace that with a new memory:

When the New Orleans Saints go against the Los Angeles Rams, Alontae Taylor could look at this game as an opportunity for redemption.

The Saints took on the Rams last year, and it wasn’t a good game for Taylor. Dennis Allen benched Taylor in the “Thursday Night Football” contest after he was at fault on too many big gains.

That game may have taken place last season, but those types of moments don’t just fade from memory. We also know it’s a moment that Taylor carried with him into this season. It was last year’s contest against the Rams the cornerback referenced when speaking on the desire to show the prime time lights aren’t too bright.

If Taylor wanted redemption on primetime games in general, it wouldn’t be far fetched to assume he may also be looking for redemption against the Rams specifically.

Taylor will be aligned at outside cornerback opposed to in the slot. While his alignment has changed, that’s no reason for the motivation to subside.

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A starting role in 2025 is on the line for Kool-Aid McKinstry

Kool-Aid McKinstry taking over at corner next year was the old regime’s thought process. He now has to prove it to whoever the next coach is

When the New Orleans Saints selected Kool-Aid McKinstry in this year’s NFL draft, the vision was for him to likely step in as a starter on the outside. The problem is, it was Dennis Allen’s plan. Dennis Allen isn’t here anymore, so it’s on McKinstry to prove to the next coach that the plans shouldn’t change.

The opportunity is still there. Marshon Lattimore and Paulson Adebo were the starting boundary cornerbacks entering the season. Lattimore is a Washington Commander and Adebo is on injured reserve.

McKinstry is joined by Alontae Taylor on the outside, but Taylor has the slot corner role as his safety net. McKinstry spent most of the season limited by opportunity or injury. The Lattimore trade cleared the way for the rookie to showcase his talents.

Prior to the bye week, McKinstry played 99 percent of the snaps against the Browns. This will be his regular workload as long as he stays healthy. These next six games will be to tell the regime he should be a leader when determining who will play outside cornerback in 2025.

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