The well-traveled Zach Wilson will be traveling to the NFC for the first time.
Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football reports that the Saints will sign Wilson to a free-agent deal.
Wilson, the second overall pick in the 2021 draft, started 13 games as a rookie and nine in 2022. Supplanted by Aaron Rodgers in 2023, a Week 1 torn Achilles for Rodgers threw Wilson back into the fray; Wilson ultimately appeared in 12 games that year, with 11 starts.
In 2024, Wilson served as a backup to Bo Nix in Denver, after being traded by the Jets to the Broncos. Wilson didn’t play at all that year.
He signed a free-agent deal with the Dolphins in 2025. He appeared in four games with no starts. After Tua Tagovailoa was benched, rookie Quinn Ewers was elevated to the first string.
Wilson joins Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler on the depth chart. Shough became the clear starter in 2025, given his performances after he replaced Rattler as the team’s starting quarterback.
Saints Clips
Safety Terrell Burgess is set to return for a second season with the Saints.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that Burgess has agreed to re-sign with the team. No terms of the deal have been reported.
Burgess appeared in 16 games as a defensive backup and regular on special teams last year. He had 22 tackles and three passes defensed in that action.
Burgess missed the 2024 season after a summer injury. He had 25 tackles in 12 games for Washington in 2023 and had 29 tackles in 30 games for the Rams over his first three seasons in the league. He also played in one game for the Giants during the 2022 season.
One of the top receivers in this year’s draft has been a busy pre-draft schedule, including meeting with an NFC South team in the top 10.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, former USC receiver Makai Lemon is working out for the Saints on Tuesday.
New Orleans has the No. 8 overall pick this year.
Additionally, Lemon has worked out for the Commanders, who select at No. 7 overall. He visited with the Browns (No. 6) last week and will visit with the Titans (No. 4) this week.
Lemon became one of the top prospects for this year’s draft by catching 79 passes for 1,156 yards with 11 touchdowns as a junior in 2025. He caught 52 passes for 764 yards with three TDs in 2024.
The Lions have added some defensive depth.
Detroit announced on Friday that the club has signed lineman Payton Turner.
Turner, 27, was with the Cowboys last season. But he missed the year after being placed on injured reserve in late August after suffering a rib injury.
A former first-round pick, Turner spent his first four seasons with New Orleans. His most productive year was in 2024, when he appeared in 16 games and recorded 21 total tackles with 2.0 sacks.
In his 31 career contests, Turner has tallied 5.0 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and 11 quarterback hits.
The Saints have re-signed veteran defensive end Chris Rumph, the team announced Thursday.
Rumph initially signed with the Saints in the 2025 offseason, following Brandon Staley after Staley became New Orleans’ defensive coordinator. The two were together with the Chargers from 2021-23.
Rumph played 30 percent of the Saints’ defensive snaps last season, with 330 snaps. He was a core special teams player, too, with 351 special teams snaps.
He totaled 47 tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble and one pass defensed in his first season with the Saints.
In five seasons, Rumph has registered 86 tackles, five sacks, two passes defensed, a forced fumble and 13 quarterback hits.
Saints defensive back Beanie Bishop is no lock to make the team’s regular-season roster, but whether he does or not, he won’t be able to play at the start of the season.
Bishop has been suspended for the first three games of the 2026 regular season, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. There was no word on the reason for the suspension.
Suspended players are permitted to go through the offseason program and training camp and play in the preseason as normal, but Bishop will not be eligible to play in the first three weeks of the regular season.
Bishop signed with the Steelers as an undrafted rookie in 2024 and was with them until he was released in November of 2025. He then signed with the Saints’ practice squad in December and signed a reserve/future contract with the Saints after the season.
The Saints are adding a running back.
According to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football, the team has signed Ty Chandler.
Chandler, 27, just completed his rookie contract with the Vikings. A fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft, Chandler missed most of the 2025 season due to a knee injury. He appeared in just three games, taking 17 carries for 4 yards and catching three passes for 11 yards.
In 40 career games with four starts, Chandler has tallied 710 rushing yards with three touchdowns plus 30 receptions for 212 yards.
Defensive end Cameron Jordan has played his entire career in New Orleans, but his home for the 2026 season remains up in the air a week into free agency.
Jordan is one of the top unsigned players in the league right now and he gave an update on where things stand during an appearance on former Saints teammate Terron Armstead’s The Set podcast. Jordan said he remains open to a 16th season with the Saints but has “a set value” for his services on his mind and knows that the team may have a different view of where things stand. If that remains the case, Jordan says he’s fine with moving on to another team to continue his career.
“You see guys my age re-sign with a team because that’s the only team they’ve ever been with, and you’re like, ‘Hell yeah, we love that,’ but that’s to his situation,” Jordan said. “That may not be to my situation. As football players, we can only control what we can control. As much as I be like ‘Hell yeah, I want them to love me as much as I love them.’ Sometimes the business side of that makes you feel emotional. You gotta be able to take your emotions out of it. Of course, I’d love to be in New Orleans. At the same time, if the cents doesn’t make sense, we gotta find our own path. I know what I want to do, what I want to accomplish. If that doesn’t line up, then that’s fine as well.”
Jordan said that he has monetary goals in mind, but also wants to be in a place that allows him to be as productive as he was while recording 10.5 sacks for the Saints last season. It remains to be seen if that will come together in New Orleans or if we’ll have to get used to seeing him in a different uniform for the first time in his career.
The first big wave of free agency has ended. The second wave has, too.
As the dollars settle on last week’s spending spree, plenty of big names are still on the board.
Receiver Stefon Diggs had a very good year in his first season back from a torn ACL, notching his seventh 1,000-yard season. The Patriots opted not to continue his contract, which added him to the group of available players. He remains on the market.
So does receiver Jauan Jennings, who landed at No. 23 on the PFT Top 100 list of free agents. He failed to parlay an unexpectedly productive 2024 into an extension with the 49ers. The fact that he didn’t sign quickly after free agency opened suggests that he wanted more than the market will bear.
Receiver Deebo Samuel, No. 29 on the PFT list, also waits for his next team. There was no land rush for a player whose lone Pro Bowl and All-Pro season is now five years in the rear-view mirror. He hit free agency for the first time. He remains available.
Other receivers who are free and clear include Tyreek Hill (who’s recovering from a serious knee injury), Christian Kirk, DeAndre Hopkins, and Keenan Allen.
As running backs go, the best options are gone. Veterans who are available include Joe Mixon, Nick Chubb, Brian Robinson, A.J. Dillon, Raheem Mostert, Najee Harris, and Austin Ekeler.
Edge rusher Joey Bosa, who’s No. 35, was essentially replaced in Buffalo by Bradley Chubb. Bosa is waiting for his next stop; his mother apparently envisions the Bosa brothers teaming up in San Francisco.
Other big-name defenders remain. Future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner is unsigned. As is edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney, the first overall pick in the 2014 draft. Veteran defensive end Cameron Jordan is a free agent. Linebacker Lavonte David, a fixture in Tampa Bay since 2012, is unsigned, too.
Then there are the quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, Russell Wilson, Jimmy Garoppolo, Joe Flacco, and Tyrod Taylor are the headliners. Currently, only the Cardinals and Steelers are presumably in the market for a QB1.
More signings will surely happen. But, for the most part, the big-money pipeline has sealed shut. The budgets have been busted. Quickly, the spending spree ends and the pre-draft process resumes.
New Saints running back Travis Etienne grew up near New Orleans, and he has said since signing with the team that he’s eager to win for his hometown. He says he’s on the same page with quarterback Tyler Shough about that.
Although Shough isn’t a New Orleans native like Etienne, Shough has quickly embraced New Orleans, and he and Etienne have already talked about their goals together.
“Tyler, he’s a great person, talking with him and being with him last night, you can sense the hunger, you can sense that he wants it for the city as well,” Etienne said.
Etienne said that seeing the way Shough improved over the course of his rookie season “definitely was a factor” in deciding to sign with the Saints, but he made clear that the primary factor was a return home. And the opportunity to bring a Lombardi Trophy to his hometown.
