Rookie Saints 3rd-round pick Oscar Delp compared to 7-time Pro Bowler

News

Finance

Sports

Mail

Story by

Story by
Rookie Saints 3rd-round pick Oscar Delp compared to 7-time Pro Bowler

Countdown to Kickoff, Day 88: Oscar Delp is Saints Player of the Day

John Sigler, Saints Wire

Sat, May 30, 2026 ·

3 min read

About Our Ads

Just how big of a role will Oscar Delp have in the New Orleans Saints offense during his rookie year? The former Georgia Bulldogs tight end was picked in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft but is, for now, behind veterans like Juwan Johnson and Noah Fant on the depth chart. That doesn't mean he won't see the field at all. He just needs to prove he's the best option the Saints have for enough plays and personnel packages to get on the field and earn more opportunities.

He already has some fans; one of them is NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell, who has seen generations of great players play the game at the highest level. Cosell sees Delp as someone who could take a similar path to former fifth-round tight end George Kittle.

"He's a player whose tape I really like. Now he did not put up huge receiving numbers in college, but I think that he could become a really good, multi-dimensional, dual tight end in that he can block in line, he's athletic as a receiver," Cosell said on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast . Delp only caught 70 passes in four years at the college level, but he was efficient with 12.2 yards per catch, 46 first downs, and nine touchdowns. There's untapped potential there.

Cosell was careful to avoid a direct comparison between Kittle and rookies like Delp; after all, he said, Kittle is likely headed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The playmaking tight end has four seasons with 1,000 or more receiving yards and 52 touchdown catches to his name. But the lesson to take from his success is that college tight ends may have skills that flash more brightly at the next level. High-end athletes with good hands are often asked to block rather than catch, but that doesn't mean they can't handle both assignments when given a chance.

"Kittle, in his last two years at Iowa, if I, if memory serves me correctly, caught 20 and 22 balls, and was what, a fourth- or fifth-round pick? And he's obviously gone on to be a great player and an outstanding receiver. So I think there's probably a belief that some of these receivers, some of these tight ends were not used in a certain way in college but the receiving traits are there," Cosell added. "I think there's a sense that these guys have a lot of receiving ability that can come out more at the NFL level."

So it's probably too soon to hope for Delp to lead the team's tight ends in receiving yards. But if he can pop off like Kittle did as a rookie and make a consistently positive impact (43 receptions for 515 yards and a couple of touchdowns)? That alone would be impressive. It would also set a strong foundation for him to build on in Year 2 and beyond. Delp's selection was a surprise for many fans on the second day of this year's draft, but he has the tools to prove it was a smart move now and in the future.