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The 2024 NFL draft is behind us, and teams are already beginning to look towards 2025. Some decisions are simple, like picking up the fifth-year option on successful draft picks (or choosing not to exercise options for struggling players). Other calls won’t be so clear-cut. The New Orleans Saints in particular like to sign next year’s free agents to extensions over the summer, and we could see that strategy repeat in the months ahead.

Last year the Saints extended soon-to-be free agents like Carl Granderson, Cesar Ruiz, and Cameron Jordan in order to get ahead of the curve. There are 27 players on the roster right now whose contracts run out in 2025, so we should expect them to get busy re-upping guys when it makes sense. In some cases it’s smarter to let them test the market. Others are worth prioritizing sooner.

Remember, there are three different classes of free agents: Unrestricted (who qualify for compensatory draft picks if they leave), Restricted (who could bring back compensation if signed away), and Exclusive Rights (who can be kept on a minimum salary). Navigating different situations can get complicated. Still, some of the players on this list will never get close to free agency. Others are going to leave. Here’s an early look at all 27 of them:

How did you grade the New Orleans Saints’ haul in this year’s NFL draft? Some teams’ 2024 draft grades are all over the place, depending on where you loo, but the Saints are scoring pretty consistently in the A to B range, with some lower ratings here or there. For the most part, they made moves to improve at positions the media thought they needed to.

The New Orleans Saints have signed tackle Justin Herron and guard/center Shane Lemieux the team announced on Tuesday. Both 2020 draftees get one-year deals.

Justin Herron, 28, was drafted in the sixth round of the 2020 draft by the New England Patriots. Herron would be traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022 before being waived by the Raiders in 2023. Herron has dealt with many injuries during his NFL career including a torn ACL in 2022.

Shane Lemieux, 26, was drafted by the New York Giants in the fifth round during the 2020 draft. Lemieux started nine games for the Giants as a rookie...

The New Orleans Saints found a solid running back in their own backyard.

The Black and Gold have signed Louisiana Ragin Cajuns RB Jacob Kibodi as an undrafted free agent as part of their 16-player group.

Kibodi, a Baton Rouge native and former player at Texas A&M, played sparingly his first few years in Lafayette, dealing with injuries and being down in the depth chart.

However, he had a breakout year in 2023, rushing for 729 yards and seven touchdowns as the primary option in the run game for Michael Desormeaux’s offense. Kibodi rushed for 100+ yards three times, including 119 yards on...

Pencils down: The 2024 NFL draft is over. Teams have made their selections and signed undrafted free agents while inviting more rookies for tryouts at minicamp over the next two weeks. So how does the New Orleans Saints rookie draft class stack up?

The Saints drafted seven players and signed 16 more afterwards. To get a quick idea of how they compare to each other, we’ve gathered their

The 2024 NFL Draft is officially over, and the New Orleans Saints came away with what many have said is a solid draft class with several steals. The Saints received mostly grades of A- and B+ on their selections but as always, we want to hear from you. Do you think the Saints were winners or losers in the draft and which draft pick do you think will make the most impact this season?


Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in New Orleans Saints fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in...

The New Orleans Saints added to their linebacker room with Texas linebacker Jaylan Ford with the No. 175 overall selection in the 2024 NFL draft. What can fans expect to see out of him as a rookie?

Ford was kind of a do it all player in his last two seasons as a Longhorn. He had 220 tackles in that span with 20.5 going for a loss. He had six career interceptions, including a school record-tying for a linebacker four picks in 2022. He isn’t the best athlete but was clearly productive in school. He has a high motor and is aggressive while looking for the ball, but does struggle to keep up...

The New Orleans Saints got their new starting right tackle in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft with Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga. As the draft came to a close in the seventh round, they were able to focus on getting their new project in Eastern Kentucky’s Josiah Ezirim with the No. 239 overall selection. What can fans expect from him as a rookie?

Ezirim has prototypical NFL size for the offensive line with some athletic upside, which is all you can really ask for from a final-round selection. His best chance to make the roster as a rookie will be to show some positional versatility...

The New Orleans Saints walked out of the 2023 season with little optimism for the future. Despite being on the cusp of winning the NFC South (low bar, I know) the constant letdowns throughout the year correctly outweighed New Orleans’ near-postseason berth. This perception deepened and was reaffirmed by multiple power rankings listing the Saints in the bottom half of the league to start the offseason.

We’ve now reached another checkpoint in the NFL offseason, the NFL draft. Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport took the time to project the outlook for the 32 teams after the draft. It’s the...

The New Orleans Saints have signed UDFA OL Sincere Haynesworth from Tulane.

Haynesworth is from Pearland, TX and attended Pearland High School where he earned three-star ratings from 247Sports.com and Rivals.com. The 6’1” 310 lb. Center played 5 seasons for Tulane. In 2022, the Green Wave won the AAC Championship Game. They averaged 36 points, 204.8 rushing yards and 236.6 passing yards per game. The team put up a total of 6,179 yards and 64 offensive touchdowns during that season. In 2023, Haynesworth helped the Green Wave offense get 5,181 yards in total offense and 41 touchdowns. He...

The New Orleans Saints have amassed a rookie class of high-value players, according to one important metric.

NFL Analyst Warren Sharp ranked each team’s draft class by Draft Capital over Expectation (DCOE). This measures the expected capital used on a prospect versus the actual capital used. In Sharp’s words, DCOE helps to determine which team “reached the most to draft a player and which teams were able to get great value on players drafted later than expected.”

While draft “grades” are an interesting form of analysis, DCOE is an objective indicator of value, and the Saints clearly...

Jarivs Landry is back in the NFL after taking a year off to heal up from an injury-plagued season with the New Orleans Saints. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that Landry is expected to try out for the Jacksonville Jaguars at their upcoming rookie minicamp.

While these rookie minicamps are intended for, well, rookies — it’s common for veteran free agents to try out alongside first-year pros in hopes of landing a contract through training camp. If Landry looks like a better option than other players auditioning in Jacksonville, he could spend his summer catching passes from Trevor...

The New Orleans Saints decided to pull the trigger on adding to the wide receiver room with Pittsburgh wideout Bub Means with the No. 170 overall selection in the 2024 NFL draft.

Means was an intriguing option to be their young wide receiver, as he does a lot of the same things as Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed on paper. He has a good size and speed combination that led to him being a deep threat in college as he averaged 16.5 yards per catch in his three seasons.

In the Klint Kubiak offense, though, he might have a different role. He’ll need to improve as a route runner, but his...

There aren’t many people covering the NFL draft who have been doing it as long as Mel Kiper Jr. ESPN’s keystone draft analyst gave the New Orleans Saints some credit for a stronger 2024 draft class than what he saw a year ago, having addressed their most important need with one of hte best players available in Round 1 (right tackle Taliese Fuaga) before making a small trade for a great value pick in Round 2 (cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry).

And he sees plenty to like in their late-round picks, too. Kiper says he just wishes the Saints hadn’t made so many trades in the past to hollow out...