Monday brings us to 27 days until the New Orleans Saints regular season opener. New Orleans will travel north to start 2026, playing at the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Sept. 13. Cornerback Isaac Yiadom is wearing No. 27 for the Saints in training camp.
Yiadom is in his second stint with New Orleans, returning to the team in 2025 as a free agent. He's now battling for a cornerback job on the defense and trying to rebound from some struggles last season. Yiadom is our latest Saints Player of the Day.
- Name (age): Isaac Yiadom (30)
- Hometown: Worcester, Mass.
- Position: Cornerback
- Height, weight: 6-foot-1, 188 pounds
- College: Boston College Eagles
- Relative Athletic Score: 6.14
- Drafted: Round 3, 99th overall in 2018 (Denver Broncos)
- NFL experience: 8 years
- 2026 salary cap hit: $3.43 million
From Doherty Memorial High School in Massachusetts, Yiadom chose Boston College over other nearby offers. He didn't get a lot of playing time early in his career with the Eagles. However, he'd work his way into a bigger role with each season of improvements.
He would intercept his first pass during the 2015 campaign. Yiadom had 17 pass breakups between 2016 and 2017, recording 2 interceptions and a career-best 53 tackles his final season.
Denver selected Yiadom with a third-round choice in the 2018 NFL draft. Safety Kamrin Moore, Yiadom's Boston College teammate, was picked in Round 6 by the New Orleans Saints that same year. Yiadom played his first two years for the Broncos, mostly on special teams but grabbing 1 interception and breaking up 7 passes in defensive action. He was traded to the New York Giants in 2020, where he'd start 10 of 16 games and broke up 5 passes with a half sack and a forced fumble. In 2021, Yiadom was traded again, this time to the Green Bay Packers. He'd be there for 16 games of reserve duty before being waived with one game remaining. The Houston Texans signed Yiadom that offseason, but he played in just three games before his release. He was subsequently picked up by New Orleans, where he'd play out the final six games of 2022 on the special teams units.
Yiadom had his breakout year in 2023. Injuries decimated the Saints at cornerback, pressing him into greater duty. Yiadom responded with a strong year, making eight starts and appearing in all 17 games. He'd have 1 interception and allowed just 48.9% completion percentage when targeted, with his 14 passes broken up ranking in the top 10 of the league. That breakout year caused the San Francisco 49ers to sign him in free agency. Yiadom had five starts and played every game for the 49ers, intercepting one pass while breaking up 6 others and forcing 2 fumbles.
However, Yiadom hit free agency again in 2025, where he returned to New Orleans on a three-year deal. He was expected to compete for a starting job opposite of Kool-Aid McKinstry and did start off the year in that role. However, struggles in coverage led to Yiadom getting supplanted by rookie Quincy Riley a quarter way into the year. After playing 140 defensive snaps over the first four games, Yiadom saw a total of only seven snaps on defense through his last ten weeks.
In 2025, Yiadom gave up an astounding 86.7% completion percentage when targeted and did not break up a single throw. Now in 2026, he'll face additional competition for playing time against new additions Martin Emerson, Lorenzo Styles, TJ Hall, and returning Jayden Price. Isaac Yiadom is one of the stronger special teams performers the Saints have, but will have to show he's not the coverage liability he was in 2026 to make this team.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Countdown to Kickoff: Isaac Yiadom is the Saints Player of Day 27
