The New Orleans Saints aim for drastic improvement in the secondary after allowing the sixth-most passing yards in 2024. It becomes even more challenging with their top two cornerbacks to start last season, Marshon Lattimore and Paulson Adebo, now on different teams, with Lattimore having been traded away since the NFL Trade Deadline. Therefore, the Saints must count on the younger guys to step up, including last year’s second-round pick.
New Orleans Saints’ CB had a great finish to his rookie season
After beginning his rookie season as the backup cornerback and missing Weeks 9-10 with a hamstring injury, Kool-Aid McKinstry took over as the starter in Week 11 following Paulson Adebo’s season-ending injury and the Marshon Lattimore trade. He had a great finish to the year, recording 42 tackles and six pass deflections in 15 games and nine starts, including 24 tackles and three pass deflections in the final seven contests. McKinstry allowed a 54.8% completion percentage, 454 passing yards, two touchdowns, and an 89.0 passer rating.
He is poised for full-time responsibilities as the number-one cornerback.
New Orleans Saints’ promising corner is a breakout candidate by The Athletic
The Athletic had each writer who covers an NFL team list their breakout candidate for the 2025 season. Larry Holder named Kool-Aid McKinstry for the New Orleans Saints. Holder points to McKinstry’s great finish to his rookie season and the second-round pick assuming full-time responsibilities in Year 2, with Marshon Lattimore and Paulson Adebo out of the picture.
“There’s no doubt the Saints selected McKinstry in Round 2 of the 2024 draft with the intention of starting him at some point. That moment came midway through last season thanks to the Marshon Lattimore trade and the Paulson Adebo injury. Both of those players are gone, and McKinstry is in line to start for New Orleans in 2025,” Holder said. “Even as the Saints’ record plummeted in the back half of last year, McKinstry seemed to hold his own with opposing passer ratings of below 78.0 in five of his final seven games (via Pro Football Reference). That included a final three-game stretch where quarterbacks only combined for a 30 percent completion rate (6-for-20) on him.”
Kool-Aid McKinstry has caught Kellen Moore’s attention
“He’s been a really steady player,” Moore said during minicamp, via Mark Inabinett of Al.com. “Really consistent through this whole process. He’s doing an excellent job. You can just tell, again a good example of those ones we’ve talked about in the past where your rookie year there’s a lot of things moving. That second year, you get a big second-year jump. And so, certainly he’s a great example of that.”
