Every time the New Orleans Saints have conducted Β in front of reporters this offseason, Tyler Shoughβs first pass generally heads toward a tight end. There have been six periods of the offense going against the defense β five 7-on-7 periods and one 11-on-11 β and all but one of them saw the second-year quarterback hit the position first and foremost.
On the lone instance he didnβt, Shough immediately went back to the tight end β for a completion.
Thatβs not a coincidence.
βI think thatβs a fair assessment,β coach Kellen Moore said when asked whether getting the position more involved in 2026 was a βpriorityβ for the Saints.
The Saints have remodeled their since the end of last season. Gone are Foster Moreau, Jack Stoll and Taysom Hill β the depth behind starter Juwan Johnson. In their place, the Saints signed eight-year veteran Noah Fant and drafted third-rounder Oscar Delp. New Orleans didnβt just add new bodies at the position β the black and gold acquired the type of athletes that should allow Moore to tap into what the play-caller often relied on at previous stops.Β
In terms of production, the Saintsβ tight ends ranked 10th in yards (or fifth if you include Hill, a listed quarterback) last season and accounted for 25.2% of their passing production. But those numbers are misleading. Almost all of that yardage came from Johnson, who enjoyed a career season with 77 catches for 889 yards and three touchdowns. But as special as that campaign was for the 29-year-old, the offense was still relatively limited in terms of the personnel packages Moore was willing to trot out.
A year ago, according to Tru Media, the Saints used 12 personnel (two tight ends) on only 119 of their 1,075 snaps. That percentage of 11.2% was far lower than Mooreβs previous tendencies. As a play-caller with the Cowboys, Chargers and Eagles, Moore often doubled that usage. And in Philadelphia, where he won a Super Bowl, the former coordinator deployed 12 personnel for 29.9% of the Eaglesβ snaps, the eighth-highest rate during the 2024 season.
Moore got away from it last year because the Saints often didnβt have a second tight end capable of serving as a threat the defense had to account for. Out of 12 personnel, the 2025 Saints generated an Expected Points Added (EPA) per play of -0.24 β the worst rate in football.
Enter Fant and Delp.
βI do feel like theyβve made some good acquisitions in the offseason,β said Johnson, who praised Fant and Delp as βdynamicβ players due to their size and speed. βJust know we can live in a world where we could be 13 personnel (three tight ends), 12 personnel and kind of interchange who we want in.
βIt gives the offense a lot of flexibility, and Iβm excited to see what Kellen does with it.β
In Fant, the Saints signed a former first-rounder whom they aggressively had pursued a year ago before Fant chose to sign with the Cincinnati Bengals. Though heβs coming off an underwhelming 34-catch, 288-yard season, Fantβs athleticism provides a nice complement to Johnsonβs skill set, and he can also hold his own as a blocker.
Delp, who has been sidelined the last two weeks with a hamstring injury, enticed the coaching staff because of his untapped potential as a pass catcher. Used primarily as a blocker at Georgia, Delpβs 4.4 40-yard dash, 6-foot-5 frame and efficiency in the pass game (12.2 yards per catch) suggest he has plenty of upside.
Could the Saints play all three of them together? Itβs certainly possible, and if they do, the usage could reflect a league-wide trend toward 13 personnel.
Last year, the Los Angeles Rams were seen as innovators for rolling out three-tight-end packages on 41.7% of their offensive snaps β with an incredibly effective 0.23 EPA per play to boot. The Ramsβ success, based on how they could disguise their plays, led teams to experiment more with the looks as the season progressed.
But the Saints offered a word of caution. Moore noted the EPA of the heavy 13 personnel teams wasnβt βnecessarily pretty.β And indeed, seven of the 12 teams that ran 13 personnel the most recorded a negative value on such plays.
βYouβve got to understand the why and make sure it all connects,β Moore said.
Added tight ends coach Chase Haslett: βYou canβt just go and chase trends and expect it to work because thatβs when youβre gonna fail. You have to look at your roster and look at the guys you have on your team and just try to maximize their abilities to the best you can.β
Thereβs little doubt, however, that the Saints would like to up their tight end usage next season. Thatβs Mooreβs history.
"You're going to have the next move," Moore said. "We've seen what the best offenses do and our job is to try and stay as much on the cutting edge and on the advantage side as we can."Β