Saints Camp — Sep 3: Two Auburn Linemen Off Waivers

New Orleans had the eighth pick in the waiver order, per Grant Chachere at Saints On SI, and used it twice on Monday. The Saints were awarded tackle Mason Murphy from Chicago's cuts and defensive tackle Colby Wooden from Indianapolis's, per the team's announcement, waiving receiver Kevin Austin Jr. and tight end Treyton Welch to fit them. Chachere had named offensive line and cornerback as the two rooms to shop the day before, with Dillon Radunz's torn knee ligament and Cesar Ruiz's ankle behind the first; the claims went into that one and into a third, the defensive interior. Murphy is six-five, three-15, a USC transfer who started all 12 Auburn games last year, the first nine at right tackle before moving to center, per the team — emergency depth across the line. Wooden was Green Bay's fourth-round pick in 2023, a hundred and sixteenth overall, with 47 games there before a March trade to Indianapolis, per the team, and steps into the rotation alongside Christen Miller, Davon Godchaux and Nathan Shepherd, per B. Keith Crear at Roundtable Sports, with Bryan Bresee — on injured reserve since early August — out for the season and Cameron Jordan's hamstring in the picture. Counting the two of them, the 53 carries four tackles and six defensive tackles. Both are Auburn products, as Mike Triplett at NewOrleans.Football noted on Monday. Triplett also reported a third claim on Tuesday — cornerback Decamerion Richardson, waived by Las Vegas as the corresponding move for its own claim, per the Raiders' announcement — which would make three claims in two days.

Then the correction we owe. Our last episode passed along Mike Garafolo's report that the Saints planned to bring safety Terrell Burgess back on the practice squad, and we called it an intention, not a transaction. It stayed an intention. Tennessee added Burgess to its active roster on Monday, per Jim Wyatt at the Titans' site — not their practice squad, their 53. He played 12 games with one start here last season, per Wyatt. The page gets that fix. Two smaller ones with it: the Sunday ledger was 15 waived, not 14, by the team's own release; and tight end Moliki Matavao, whom we said appeared on none of the reserve lists, is on injured reserve as of Wednesday, per Brett Martel at the Associated Press.

The reserve list from Sunday, by the team's release: cornerbacks Dalys Beanum and David Long Jr., edge rusher Mike Heldman, running back Devin Neal and tackle Barry Wesley on injured reserve; linebacker Jaylan Ford and receiver Jordyn Tyson on injured reserve with return designations; receiver Mason Tipton on the reserve physically-unable-to-perform list; and receiver Brock Rechsteiner on the reserve/suspended list. Then the second wave: Lorenzo Styles Jr., the 2026 sixth-round pick, to injured reserve on Tuesday, eligible to return after four games, per John Sigler at Saints Wire. Tyson's hamstring is a roughly four-week absence, per Martel, who also lists Alvin Kamara's knee sprain and Jordan's hamstring among the early-season absences. The other direction, per Triplett: Ruiz and cornerback Quincy Riley were among four players back at practice Tuesday — two of the three injuries behind the shopping list, on the field the day after the shopping.

The practice squad answered three of the four names we told you to watch. 12 announced Monday, per the team, every one of them a Saints cut the day before: kicker Charlie Smyth, beaten out by Daniel Carlson mid-camp, back on an International Pathway slot that lets him be a seventeenth man on the squad — the 25-year-old from Northern Ireland made 12 of 16 field goals in six games last year, per Billy Heyen at Heavy. Tackle Easton Kilty, the undrafted second-year lineman who led the offense in Pro Football Focus's preseason grading, per Chachere, on the squad anyway after shaky pass protection in his last two outings. Running back Zamir White, traded for on August 24, cut on the thirtieth, back on the 30-first. Cornerback TJ Hall Jr., a 2026 seventh-round pick, retained. The other eight, four of them rookies: on offense, running back CJ Donaldson, tackles Alan Herron and Alex Wollschlaeger, and receivers Jalen Moreno-Cropper and Trey Palmer. On defense, edge rusher Fadil Diggs, linebacker Jackson Sirmon and defensive lineman Jay'Viar Suggs. Then two from outside on Tuesday, per the team: receiver Cedric Tillman, Cleveland's 2023 third-round pick with 38 games and 19 starts there, and tight end Stone Smartt, four seasons with the Chargers and Jets and a college quarterback at Old Dominion. 14 by Tuesday night, on the team's own two announcements; Nick Underhill at NewOrleans.Football reported Welch and Austin Jr. signed back Wednesday, which would make 16.

Kellen Moore, on the kicker he chose, per John DeShazier at the team's site: "Daniel is going to do a great job for us." Carlson signed August 24, appeared once, and made both attempts against Dallas, from 38 53. Running back Audric Estimé, released by Denver and on the 53 here, said making it reflected his preparation and hard work, per the team's site. Cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. made the roster after missing all of 2025 with a ruptured Achilles suffered in Cleveland, per the team.

Back in July we previewed New Orleans as the division's best story and its most pre-paid price — a full rebuild with no statistical rebate behind it, a second-year quarterback we graded bottom-five in the repeatable stuff, and a repair job across the line, backfield and receiver room that camp needed to show functioning. The floor: six and 11, an offense that ranked 20-seventh in expected points added per play — the measure of how much each snap moved the expected score — and 30-first running the ball, with a defense tenth. Cut day wrote the August split into the roster: the quarterback's side kept strengthening while the pieces around him kept coming off. This week the front office went and bought pieces — two claims in the trenches, a corner Triplett reported the day after, two veterans on the practice squad — while Ruiz and Riley walked back onto the field on their own. The repair job is still shedding parts. For the first time since the roster was set, it was also buying.

Next is the Lions, Sunday, September 13, at Ford Field. What to watch: whether Kamara practices before the weekend, and whether Murphy or Wooden dresses for the opener. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._