Just 50 days remain until the New Orleans Saints host the Arizona Cardinals in their 2025 regular season opener. While it will be the 59th NFL season for the Saints, it will be their first under new head coach Kellen Moore. Defensive lineman Khalen Saunders wears No. 50 for New Orleans heading into this year’s training camp. Saunders has been with the team since 2023, but switched to No. 50 last year after wearing 99 during his first year with the team. Our Saints Player of the Day, here’s a closer look at his career.
Name (age): Khalen Saunders (28)
Hometown: Chesterfield, Mo.
Position: Defensive tackle
Height, weight: 6-feet, 324 pounds
College: Western Illinois Leathernecks
Relative Athletic Score: 7.57
2025 salary cap hit: $2,525,882
Western Illinois was only Division I school to offer Saunders a scholarship out of Parkway Central High School. The Leathernecks have also produced NFL alumni Don Beebe, David Bowens, Bryan Cox, Rodney Harrison, Will Peterson, Mike Wagner, Frank Winters, and former Saints RB Aaron Stecker. Saunders starred as a defensive lineman at Western Illinois, but also saw some two-way time as a running back. He’d gain national attention leading up to the 2019 NFL draft when a video of him doing backflips went viral.
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The Kansas City Chiefs selected Saunders midway through Round 3 in 2019, making him the sixth highest draft choice in the history of Western Illinois University. Over his first three years, Saunders appeared somewhat sparingly for Chiefs teams that won two conference titles and Super Bowl LIV. In that span, Saunders had a sack and 3 tackles for loss. His best year was 2022, on a Kansas City squad that won Super Bowl LVII. Saunders contributed 4.5 sacks, including one in the Super Bowl, along with 4 stops for loss and 11 pressures.
Early into 2023 free agency, the Saints signed Saunders to a three-year deal. He’d start all 17 games for New Orleans that year, playing in a career-best 523 defensive snaps and recording 57 tackles, but with none for loss. Injuries limited Saunders to 13 outings in 2024. He managed 2 sacks, 7 pressures, 3 stops for loss, along with an acrobatic interception and athletic 37-yard return during a loss against his former team in Kansas City.
At a powerful 6-feet and 324 pounds, Saunders is in the mix for the nose tackle spot in new coordinator Brandon Staley’s 3-4 system. He has the strength and quickness to pull it off, as the Saints look to improve on a run defense that ranked an abysmal 31st in the NFL last season.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Countdown to Kickoff: Khalen Saunders is the Saints Player of Day 50