Canal Street Chronicles
What rookies will we see on the field on Sunday?
On Sunday, the New Orleans Saints will kick off their season in a home game against the Carolina Panthers. For some rookies, it can’t come soon enough.
First round 2024 NFL Draft pick Taliese Fuaga will see his first official game as an NFL left tackle. Leading up to it, Fuaga seems calm, cool, and collected. His first NFL action will be against Jadeveon Clowney and Derrick Brown, and he didn’t sweat when asked what his thoughts on the subject were.
“I think it’s exciting, just to see where I’m at with my technique,” Fuaga said, “A lot of those players are very experienced, very long players, especially Jadeveon Clowney.”
Fuaga also gave some credit to the Saints defensive lineman as well, saying that he practices against experience.
“Just being able to go against that is nice,” Fuaga said, “I practice against Chase Young, Carl Granderson, Cam Jordan, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry is expected to see some action as well. Coming off a good training camp and preseason, McKinstry has put himself behind Paulson Adebo. With Alontae Taylor back in the slot, this shows just how much confidence the Saints have in the rookie. Also notable, McKinstry just changed his jersey number from 34 to 14.
Rookie wide receivers Bub Means (Fifth-round draft selection), and Mason Tipton (UDFA) should also see some action as they both have impressed in the preseason. Second-year WR A.T. Perry was listed as questionable on the final injury report for the Saints, so both rookies have an opportunity to make a name for themselves.
We will see what happens when the Saints kick off the 2024 season against the Panthers in Caesars Superdome at 12:00pm CT.
