- New Orleans finished the 2026 NFL Draft with an eight-player class. With five picks on the third day of the draft, the 2026 draft is tied with 2018, 2024, and 2025.
- With their first of their five Day Three picks (132nd overall), the Saints selected Auburn G Jeremiah Wright.
- Wright and Nick Saldiveri (2023) are the only guards drafted since 2012.
- In five seasons at Auburn (2020-25), Wright appeared in 53 games with 25 starts, including every game in his last two seasons.
- In 2026, the 6-5, 331-pound, Selma, Ala. native led the team with 33 knockdown blocks.
- Wright is the fourth Auburn player drafted all-time by the Saints, with the last player drafted being DE Frank Warren in 1981.
- Wright played on the Panini Senior Bowl American team, whose head coach was Joel Thomas, Saints Associate Head Coach/Running Backs Coach.
- He started his career as a defensive tackle before converting to offensive line.
- As a youth, he was also a promising baseball player. He converted to football after his PE coach convinced him to switch as a sixth grader, starting as a tight end.
- Wright joins second round pick Christen Miller as the second player from a high school whose moniker is also the "Saints."
- He graduated from Auburn in 2024 with a degree from the College of Liberal Arts in interdisciplinary studies.
- With their second fourth round pick (136th overall), New Orleans selected North Dakota WR Bryce Lance.
- Lance is the third North Dakota State picked by New Orleans, and the first since 1975 (WR Ron Gustafson-12th round).
- Lance joins two former North Dakota State players on the Saints roster, CB Jayden Price and OL Dillon Radunz.
- Lance, 6-3, 204, started all 13 games in 2025, contributing to North Dakota State's 12-1 record.
- Lance was a consensus FCS first team All-American, ranking sixth in the FCS with 21.2 yards per reception in 2025.
- He racked up 51 receptions for 1,079 yards and eight touchowns following his 2024 season of 75 catches for 1,071 yards and 17 touchdowns, making him the first Bison in history with multiple 1,000 yard seasons.
- After finishing his collegiate career third on the NDSU career list with 25 touchdown receptions and eighth with 2,150 receiving yards, he continued to garner attention scoring a 98 athleticism score and 86 total score at the NFL combine, ranking second amongst wide receivers highlighted by his 4.34 40-yard dash time.
- Bryce Lance's older brother, Trey, was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and led the Bison to a national championship going 16-0 in 2019. Trey Lance currently plays as backup quarterback for the Chargers.
- Lance graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing and with a master's degree in business administration.
- The Saints completed a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for EDGE Tyree Wilson and a seventh-round pick (219th overall) in the 2026 NFL Draft in exchange for New Orleans' first of two 2026 fifth-round selections (150th overall).
- After being drafted seventh overall in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Raiders out of Texas Tech in 2023, Wilson has appeared in 50 games, recording 91 tackles (57 solo), 12 sacks, 16 stops for loss, one pass breakup, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
- In 2025, Wilson played in all 17 games with three starts, recording 35 stops (25 solo), four sacks, eight stops for loss, one pass breakup, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery, setting career-highs in tackles, solo stops, tackles for loss, and forced fumbles.
- Wilson's collegiate career (2018-2022) consisted of appearing in 44 games with 28 starts for Texas Tech, recording 121 tackles (76 solo), 17 sacks, 32 stops for a loss, one pass breakup, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
- With their fifth round pick (172nd overall), the Saints selected Ohio State S Lorenzo Styles Jr.
- Styles's selection marks the 18th pick out of Ohio State all-time, the most picks from any school in Saints history.
- Styles is the first pick out of Ohio State since WR Chris Olave in 2022.
- 2026 is the third consecutive year the Saints have drafted a cornerback, following Kool-Aid McKinstry in 2024 and Quincy Riley in 2025.
- He transferred to Ohio State after playing two seasons (2021-22) at Notre Dame as a wide receiver, where he was the second-leading receiver in both 2021 and 2022, totaling 54 receptions for 684 yards and two touchdowns.
- Styles, 6-0, 194, played in 60 career games, including 11 starts in 2025 at Ohio State. He played in all 16 games in 2024, including the CFP National Championship game, totaling 397 snaps. In 2024, he recorded 16 tackles and four pass break-ups.
- Styles's 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in 2025 was the first for Ohio State in 15 years.
- At Ohio State, he had 16 tackles and four pass breakups in 2024. In 2025, he had 30 tackles and two pass breakups.
- The Styles family has strong football genes, with Lorenzo Sr. playing for the Buckeyes before a six-year NFL career that included a Super Bowl XXXIV championship with the St. Louis Rams. Lorenzo Jr.'s brother, Sonny, was also drafted in the 2026 NFL draft by the Washington Commanders (going seventh in the first round).
- Styles graduated in 2025 with a degree in consumer and family financial services. He is recognized as a Big Ten Conference Distinguished Scholar, OSU Scholar-Athlete (2023, 2024), and Academic All-Big Ten (2023, 2024).
- With the 190th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Saints selected LSU WR-RS Barion Brown.
- Brown, 5-11, 177, is the first pick from LSU since C Will Clapp in 2018 (now Offensive Assistant).
- Brown's selection is the 11th pick from LSU all-time, tying them with Florida State, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin for draft selections by New Orleans.
- With Brown's selection, it marks only the second time in a seven-round draft (since 1993) that the team has selected three wide receivers.
- As a senior transfer at LSU, the Nashville, Tenn. native appeared in 13 games with nine starts for the Tigers and led LSU with 53 receptions and 532 receiving yards.
- His college career concluded with 50 games and 36 starts, 175 receptions for 2,060 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also posted 65 kick returns for 1,910 yards and 6 returns for touchdowns (including one for 99 yards in the 2025 Texas Bowl), which is the SEC record, one shy of the NCAA record, and the most in FBS since 2022.
- At Kentucky, Brown departed with the No. 10 rank for receiving yards (1,528) and is tied for No. 14 for receptions (122). He is the school's record-holder for kickoff returns for a touchdown in a career (5) and in a season (3-2023), and is the all-time leader for career kickoff return average (30.3) and single season (36.0 in 2023).
- Brown was a perennial All-SEC return specialist across four seasons.
- With the 219th overall pick, the Saints selected Iowa CB TJ Hall.
- Hall is the fourth selection from Iowa and the first pick in 26 years (TE Austin Wheatley, 2000).
- A native of Fresno, Calif., Hall played four seasons at Iowa where he started 18 out of 42 games played. He had 75 tackles (49 solo, 26 assists) and two interceptions. In 2025, he recorded 47 tackles (30 solo, 17 assists) and led the Big Ten with ten pass breakups.
- In the ReliaQuest Bowl, Hall had a career-high eight tackles and two pass breakups over Vanderbilt.
- Hall played in all 13 games in 2022, and the first six in 2023 before missing the remainder of the season due to a foot injury.
- The 2026 draft class is comprised of four SEC players (Miller, Delp, Wright, Brown), one Big 12 (Tyson), two Big Ten (Styles, Hall), and one NCAA Missouri Valley Conference (Lance).
