{"id":646560,"date":"2026-01-01T22:22:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T22:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/646560\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T22:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T22:22:17","slug":"saints-2025-rookie-class-looking-among-best-in-the-nfl-saints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/646560\/","title":{"rendered":"Saints’ 2025 rookie class looking among best in the NFL | Saints"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kellen Moore<\/a> would be the first to say that even he didn\u2019t know exactly what to expect from the New Orleans Saints\u2019 rookie class. The coach liked the picks, sure, but he\u2019s been in the NFL long enough to know that sometimes rookies have to sit behind veterans and reps can be limited.<\/p>\n

But in his first year since being hired by the Saints, Moore probably couldn\u2019t have asked for much \u2026 more.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight demeanor, right mindset,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Saints haven\u2019t quite struck gold the same way they did in 2017, but for a franchise desperately needing an injection of youth, this year\u2019s rookie class<\/a> appears to be the team\u2019s best since then.<\/p>\n

In just one group, the Saints have found: A quarterback of the future, a franchise left tackle, two defensive starters and a rotational running back. Those players will have to continue to progress for them to truly reach their potential, but those five are off to extremely promising starts. And that\u2019s not all. The Saints also made four other selections, two of whom could emerge as starters next season. The final two, a pair of seventh rounders, have contributed in spots, as well.<\/p>\n

As the season comes to a close Sunday, the success of the Saints\u2019 draft class prompts one question: Is it the best in the league?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s obviously subjective, but the group has earned high marks. The Ringer\u2019s Todd McShay, for instance, had quarterback Tyler Shough and left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. taken first and fourth overall in a recent exercise of re-drafting the 2025 class. ESPN\u2019s Ben Solak had four Saints make his All-Rookie team, tied with the Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns for the most selections. And according to oddsmakers, Shough is now the outright favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n

The development of the Saints\u2019 rookies is a large reason the team has rattled off four straight wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve gotten better, obviously, throughout this whole process,\u201d Moore said. \u201c(They\u2019re) guys that obviously you can see carrying significant roles moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

League-wide, according to Stathead, the Saints\u2019 class has taken the fourth-most amount of snaps this season, not including work on special teams. Total snaps may not be a perfect metric to capture a group\u2019s impact, but the Saints (3,260 combined snaps) are only behind the Cleveland Browns (3,875), Tennessee Titans (3,371) and New York Jets (3,625).<\/p>\n

Of those three, the Browns might have the best argument for having a more impactful set of rookies. Cleveland has gotten a combined 72 starts from its seven drafted rookies, most in the NFL. That group includes a disruptive interior pass rusher (Mason Graham), a stud linebacker (Carson Schwesinger), a potential star running back (Quinshon Judkins) and an electric tight end (Harold Fanin Jr.). And that\u2019s before you get to Shedeur Sanders, the polarizing quarterback who, when it\u2019s all said and done, will lead Cleveland in quarterback starts this season.<\/p>\n

Other teams with great returns on their class include the Falcons (the defense-heavy approach paid off), the New England Patriots (Drake Maye got some help) and the Seattle Seahawks (their first two picks could be All Pros down the line).<\/p>\n

But the case for New Orleans would be to consider how the Saints\u2019 rookies have stepped up \u2014 even well beyond initial expectations.<\/p>\n

Derek Carr, for instance, had yet to retire when the Saints drafted Shough in the second round, and while there was uncertainty with the veteran\u2019s shoulder injury, it wasn\u2019t immediately clear how much the rookie would end up playing in 2025. Third-round safety Jonas Sanker and fourth-round cornerback Quincy Riley were also thrust into roles earlier than anticipated.<\/p>\n

Even Banks, the ninth overall pick, came with questions. Remember the pre-draft scuttlebutt that the Texas product might be better suited to play guard instead of tackle?<\/p>\n

Banks leads the entire 2025 draft with 1,052 snaps \u2014 all at tackle.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s elite,\u201d Shough said. \u201cEspecially for how young he is, being thrust into it right away. Some of the stuff he does is unbelievable from a physical perspective. And he\u2019s also cool, calm and collected. He\u2019s like our best communicator on the o-line at left tackle, as far as helping guys out, helping receivers out. He\u2019s been an unbelievable player for us this year and I think he\u2019s stepped up big time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard whenever you\u2019re a first-round draft pick living up to some of those Twitter trolls or whatever. He\u2019s done his job, he\u2019s obviously going to be here for a while and continue to do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not every pick for the Saints from this season, of course, may turn out to be a star. Third-rounder Vernon Broughton played in only one game before suffering a season-ending hip injury. Seventh rounders Fadil Diggs and Moliki Matavao have bounced between the active roster and the practice squad. Players, too, can regress.<\/p>\n

But the Saints had nine selections this past April, their most since 2015. And for as many swings as New Orleans took, the hit rate on those swings looks pretty good, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a credit to (general manager) Mickey (Loomis) and the staff for seeing that vision that way, as far as, we want good players on the field and off the field, how can we continue to get better and go forward from there,\u201d Shough said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kellen Moore would be the first to say that even he didn\u2019t know exactly what to expect from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646561,"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-646560","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\/115822182042199465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646560","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=646560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}