{"id":735812,"date":"2026-02-07T14:40:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T14:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/735812\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T14:40:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T14:40:34","slug":"confidence-restored-for-saints-cb-kool-aid-mckinstry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/735812\/","title":{"rendered":"Confidence restored for Saints CB Kool-Aid McKinstry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">When the New Orleans Saints selected cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry with the 41st pick in the 2024 NFL draft, the long-term outlook was that he could eventually replace Marshon Lattimore, whose time in the Big Easy was nearing its end.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">After a bumpy rookie season, the light at the end of the tunnel has never been brighter for McKinstry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The 23-year-old bounced back with a sophomore leap, recording 77 total tackles (67 solo), 15 stops, 12 pass breakups and led the team with three interceptions. Most importantly, he was tasked with covering the opposing team\u2019s top pass catcher, marking the first time the Saints opened a season without Lattimore leading the secondary since 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">While the Saints should still consider adding a cornerback in the upcoming draft\u2014 especially with Alontae Taylor testing the free-agent market\u2014McKinstry and 2025 fourth-round pick Quincy Riley have shown immense promise for the future of the cornerback room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the New Orleans Saints selected cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry with the 41st pick in the 2024 NFL draft,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[7,896,55,65685,84861,401,2588,2572,2571,6,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-735812","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-new-orleans","10":"tag-new-orleans-saints","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints-analysis","12":"tag-new-orleans-saints-player-review","13":"tag-new-orleans-saints-news","14":"tag-new-orleans-saints-roster","15":"tag-neworleans","16":"tag-neworleanssaints","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-saints"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116029871112096670","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735812","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=735812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}