The New Orleans Saints are bringing one of Louisiana's own back home. New Orleans claimed defensive back Decamerion Richardson off waivers from the Las Vegas Raiders on September 1, giving the former fourth-round pick a fresh start in his home state.
Richardson's addition is more interesting than a typical post-cutdown depth move. The Louisiana native was a fourth-round draft pick just two years ago and started seven games as an NFL rookie before his defensive role nearly disappeared last season. Now the Saints get a look at that upside while adding another player with significant special-teams experience to their secondary.
The NFL's personnel notice listed Richardson as being assigned to New Orleans from Las Vegas. The Raiders officially waived him September 1 after claiming former San Francisco 49ers cornerback Darrell Luter Jr. off waivers.
For Richardson, the move represents a home-state opportunity.
He grew up in Cullen, Louisiana, and attended Bossier High School before playing at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs list Richardson at 6-foot-2 and credit him with 177 tackles, 10 pass breakups and 26 starts over 45 collegiate appearances.
Richardson's production was unusual for a cornerback. He led SEC corners with 85 tackles in 2022 and again with 79 in 2023. Mississippi State also noted that Pro Football Focus gave him a 90.3 tackling grade during his final college season, best among SEC cornerbacks.
His athletic testing helped turn that production into fourth-round draft status. Richardson ran a reported 4.34-second 40-yard dash ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft, when Las Vegas selected him No. 112 overall.
That combination of length and straight-line speed remains the obvious developmental appeal for New Orleans.
Richardson also arrives with more defensive experience than his 2025 season suggests.
As a rookie, he appeared in 12 games with seven starts and played 559 defensive snaps. He finished that season with 46 tackles and three passes defensed.
But his second season looked very different.
Richardson appeared in 15 games in 2025 yet logged only 13 defensive snaps. His primary job became special teams, where he played 204 snaps and recorded 10 tackles, according to Pro Football Archives.
That may offer the clearest picture of his initial opportunity with the Saints.
New Orleans doesn't necessarily need Richardson to immediately reclaim a starting role. The Saints currently have Kool-Aid McKinstry and Martin Emerson Jr. among a cornerback group that also includes Quincy Riley, Jayden Price and Mike Reid.
But the bottom of that depth chart has been fluid. New Orleans terminated veteran cornerbacks Michael Davis and Isaac Yiadom while reducing its roster to 53 players.
Richardson gives the Saints another young option with legitimate starting experience, plus a recent track record of handling a heavy special-teams workload.
That's a much different proposition than simply taking a flyer on an inexperienced player after roster cuts.
Richardson was good enough to start seven games as a rookie, athletic enough to become a fourth-round pick and useful enough on special teams to remain active for 15 games last season.
Now he'll get his next opportunity much closer to home.
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