When the 2023–24 season began, the New Orleans Saints were predicted to have an excellent group of cornerbacks. One of the NFL’s top cornerbacks, Marshon Lattimore can shut down the top receiver for an opponent in one-on-one coverage. Alontae Taylor has just finished an incredible rookie campaign. Paulson Adebo was predicted to recover well from a difficult 2022 after exhibiting comparable rookie potential in 2021.
In 2022, New Orleans came in second against the pass. They gave up just 184 yards per game and a 60% completion percentage to opposing quarterbacks, but they recorded only seven interceptions—the second fewest in the league. Lattimore, who missed 10 games due to an abdominal injury, was mostly absent from this.
After training camp, the Saints unexpectedly cut veteran CB Bradley Roby. Taylor had to take on more slot duties as a result, which was a new role for him. Lattimore, Taylor, and Adebo remained a formidable three, but their depth was now called into doubt.
It was soon abundantly evident why New Orleans thought they could put Roby behind them. The Saints were confident in the move because of CB Isaac Yiadom’s preseason performance in just his second season with the organization.
In the 2018 NFL Draft, Yiadom was selected by the Denver Broncos in the third round out of Boston College. In his 29 games of limited activity during his first two years with the Broncos, he broke up seven passes and intercepted one ball.
After being traded to the New York Giants in 2020, he made ten starts and intercepted five passes without allowing an interception.
Yiadom was traded one more shortly before the 2021 campaign began. This time, to the Green Bay Packers, where through 16 games, he only contributed on special teams. Yiadom was released at the end of the season and signed as a free agent with the Houston Texans in the following offseason.
Yiadom spent the majority of the first half of 2022 on the practice squad, but he did make three appearances for the Texans in games. Taking advantage of the situation, the Saints signed Yiadom for the remaining six games after he was cut from Houston’s practice squad. Last offseason, he earned a one-year contract after making an impression on the team.
Yiadom gave the Saints their finest season ever after making an impression in training camp and preseason games. Paulson Adebo’s early-season injury forced Yiadom to step up into a much larger role in Weeks Three and Four. In those two games, he was targeted 16 times, permitting eight catches for a meager 57 yards while making six interceptions and registering an interception.
During the latter part of the season, Yiadom did not play much; however, he was once more thrust into the starting lineup when Lattimore had a leg injury that kept him out of action for the last seven games. Yiadom reacted emphatically once more.
Yiadom has intercepted seven passes in the last seven games, all starts, and has only allowed a 48.3% completion rate when targeted. Even with big targets in the lineup, Yiadom only allowed a 48.9% completion rate. Over his first five seasons, he more than quadrupled his career total of interceptions, with 14 of them tying for ninth place in the NFL.
Last season, the Saints were ranked tenth against the pass. Compared to 2022, they gave up a little bit more air yards (207.3 per game) and throwing touchdowns (22). But this past season, New Orleans held quarterbacks to a lower completion rate (59.7%) and intercepted almost three times as many throws (18).
When Lattimore was in the starting lineup for 10 games, the Saints gave up 199.2 yards per game and a 60.6% completion rate in the air. Rival quarterbacks averaged 219 yards per game in the seven games without their star cornerback, although their completion rate was lower at 58.4%.
Early in this offseason, there have been multiple trade rumors involving Lattimore. Dealing with him could appear silly, but if it would yield a nice return, it might happen. In order to reduce the dead cap impact for the team in the event that Lattimore was traded, the Saints and him also worked out a restructured contract at the end of the season.
