New Orleans Saints.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cAll the tight ends here started calling me ‘White Pepper,’\u201d Price said. \u201cI thought that was pretty good. So I\u2019ve been really embracing that one. It\u2019s been fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the New Orleans Saints close out training camp with Saturday\u2019s preseason finale against the Denver Broncos, Price is trying to make his case of why he belongs on the 53-man roster. He’s probably a long shot in a crowded room, but he would like nothing more than to join an oh-so-small fraternity of white cornerbacks to make an NFL roster.<\/p>\n
Denver Broncos cornerback Riley Moss, who will be in the Caesars Superdome on Saturday, and Philadelphia Eagles starter Cooper DeJean were the only two white cornerbacks to start last season. Ethan Bonner is a backup for the Miami Dolphins.\u00a0When Moss became a starter for Denver in 2023, he was the first white cornerback to start an NFL game since Jason Sehorn, who finished his career with the New York Giants in 2003. Last season, Moss was the first white cornerback to get an interception in a game since Sehorn in 2002.<\/p>\n
While Price doesn\u2019t know Moss and DeJean personally, he keeps up with their careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m rooting for those guys, because there aren\u2019t many of us,\u201d Price said.<\/p>\n
DeJean was drafted by the Eagles in the second round of the 2024 draft. Moss was selected by the Broncos in the third round in 2023. Price’s road to the NFL hasn’t been as conventional. He went undrafted in 2024 and signed with the Atlanta Falcons before being let go on cut day this time a year ago. He then played one game in the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and in the United Football League with the Arlington Renegades. Their season ended on June 1, and the Saints signed him 19 days later.<\/p>\n
Saints cornerback Isaac Yiadom is entering his ninth NFL season. Price is the first white teammate he\u2019s had in the cornerback room with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy,\u201d Yiadom said. \u201cI think when you\u2019re a good white athlete, they just automatically put you at slot receiver or safety. They don\u2019t even think to put you at corner. The few that do make it in the league, they are a special breed. You look at Riley Moss and Cooper and they are really, really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saints tight end Seth Green, who first got in the NFL in 2022, was Price\u2019s teammate in the UFL with the Renegades.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was one of the hardest workers on the team,\u201d Green said. \u201cHe\u2019s always going to show up when he gets the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green, like Yiadom, said Price is the first white cornerback he\u2019s had as a teammate in the NFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is out there letting the work speak for itself,\u201d Green said. \u201cI love that. He\u2019s a good dude and he always embraces it and jokes about it. He knows it\u2019s rare, but he also knows his work is going to show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price had a pass breakup in Wednesday\u2019s practice on a pass intended for Chris Olave. While cornerback is his primary position, Price can contribute elsewhere. Kellen Moore has used him in the return game. Price had a 31-yard kickoff return and a 13-yard punt return in Sunday\u2019s preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He had a 25-yard kickoff return in the preseason opener against the Los Angeles Chargers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love it,\u201d Price said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big part of my game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price made sure of that when he got to college at North Dakota State. He played quarterback in high school in his hometown of Derby, Kansas, right outside of Wichita. He started playing some cornerback his senior year since he was being recruited as an athlete. He got scholarship offers from North Dakota State, several schools in the Missouri Valley Conference and a late offer from Tulane. He shunned the Tulane offer, deciding to stick with his commitment to North Dakota State, where he was on three FCS national championship teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I got to college and switched to the defense side, I was trying to find a way to keep the ball in my hands,\u201d Price said. \u201cSo I started being a returner and adapted to that and it helped my game a lot. I added some value to myself, so I love doing it because I love the ball in my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even moreso, he loves keeping the ball out of the hands of any receiver he lines up against. Even when they look at him and think he won\u2019t be able to.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a white corner, you\u2019ve got to expect the ball to come to you every time,\u201d Price said. \u201cUntil you shut that first one down, they are going to keep coming back to you. So I will hear \u2018Milk check.\u2019 They see a white corner out there, they are going to check you. So you have to just trust your fundamentals and technique and just believe and be confident in what you\u2019re doing and you\u2019re going to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price knows he\u2019s going to stand out in whatever cornerback room he\u2019s in. But he also wants to make sure he stands out on the field so he can earn one of those 53 precious roster spots. It won’t be easy, but Price knows what he needs to do in Saturday’s final audition.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything and everything,\u201d Price said. \u201cJust go out there and make plays, fly around and play fast and play confident. Hopefully a few plays go my way and I can show that I can make a big play and I\u2019ll feel good going into next week. Anything and everything can help my case.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jayden Price never knows exactly what he will hear. But he knows he\u2019s going to hear something. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[7,4095,896,55,2572,2571,6,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-308328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-hardwall","10":"tag-new-orleans","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints","12":"tag-neworleans","13":"tag-neworleanssaints","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-saints"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115071957735273295","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}