{"id":769192,"date":"2026-02-22T15:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/769192\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:34:14","slug":"jaylan-ford-carved-out-special-teams-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/769192\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaylan Ford carved out special teams role"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 22, 2026, 4:55 a.m. CT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Linebacker Demario Davis continues to be the heart and soul of the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/new-orleans-saints\/350\" data-autotag=\"84b23fc0-f769-4d65-9d38-018c62e4efd7\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">New Orleans Saints<\/a> defense. However, the linebackers around Davis haven&#8217;t made big plays consistently. In recent years, the Saints have added several free agents and draft choices at the position but few have made a significant impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">New Orleans has selected a linebacker in six of the last seven drafts. Only three of those are still with the team. We take a look at one of them in our ongoing yearly recap of New Orleans players.<\/p>\n<p>Jaylan Ford Year in ReviewPosition: LinebackerAge: 24Height: 6-feet, 2 inchesWeight: 240 poundsNFL experience: 2 years (with Saints)2025 season: 17 games<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">A two-time All-Big 12 selection and 3rd Team All-American with the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/college-sports\/sec\/texas\" data-autotag=\"d0aef51d-3248-4c0c-bbcc-b01ab386ce2f\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Texas Longhorns<\/a>, Ford was a 2024 fifth round draft choice by the Saints. He played little as a rookie, seeing special teams action in eight games with no defensive snaps. Coming into 2025, it was hoped that Ford would step up and grab a spot in the linebacker rotation.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Ford played in all 17 contests this past season. He was a fixture on special teams, logging 77% of the snaps with those units. Ford was unable to crack the linebacker rotation, however, getting only 7 defensive snaps all year. He was surpassed on the depth chart by both rookie Danny Stutsman and second-year Isaiah Stalbird. Ford had 11 special teams tackles during the season, all but one coming on special teams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">A prototype build for a linebacker, Ford also possesses good athleticism for the position. At Texas, he was one of the nation&#8217;s top all-around defenders. In his final two seasons with the Longhorns, Ford had 6 interceptions with 20.5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks with 4 forced fumbles and 108 total stops. As the Saints search for a successor to Demario Davis, Ford needs to show that kind of production and instincts for perhaps even a chance at making the 2026 squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 22, 2026, 4:55 a.m. CT Linebacker Demario Davis continues to be the heart and soul of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[95878,7,896,55,2572,2571,6,397,15505,96128,95882,97757,109355,95896,96129,95888,95895,95906,95883,101728,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-769192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-new-orleans","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints","12":"tag-neworleans","13":"tag-neworleanssaints","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-saints","16":"tag-sstssportsnflsaints","17":"tag-sstsnsaints","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagdemario-davis","20":"tag-tagjaylan-ford","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnew-orleans-saints","23":"tag-tagnfl","24":"tag-tagnfl-hub","25":"tag-tagoverall-positive","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-tagtexas-longhorns","28":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116115017993107420","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769192","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=769192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}