The New Orleans Saints drafted Quincy Riley in the fourth round, understanding he may have to step into the starting lineup Week 1. Riley missed most of the offseason, but he is already justifying the Saints' faith in him in training camp.
If Riley wants to see the field, he'll have to beat out Isaac Yiadom. The veteran is returning to New Orleans after a year away in San Francisco. Riley and Yiadom will be competing to play opposite of Kool-Aid McKinstry when Alontae Taylor goes into the slot.
Many felt the Saints got a steal with Riley being available that late in the draft. If his early performance in training camp is any indication, Riley will prove that crowd correct.
Quincy Riley’s greatest strength already shining at Saints training camp
When looking at Riley's box score in college, the number 15 will jump out the most. That's the amount of interceptions he had over his collegiate career. After bringing down eight interceptions at Middle Tennessee State, Riley added seven more to his career total at Louisville versus higher competition.
We’re only a week through training camp and Riley already has two interceptions, both against Spencer Rattler. Interceptions typically get brushed aside when looking at it from quarterback evaluation standpoint u til they reach an alarming count.
“It’s just practice.” “Don’t look too deep into practice picks. Drew Brees threw them too.” That’s typically the narrative for quarterbacks, but it should be noted that Riley brought down two interceptions in less than 10 practices.
On Riley’s second interception, Kellen Moore was very complimentary of Riley’s ball skills. He commented on the play from a quarterback perspective. “It was a good ball. Unfortunately, I think Quincy made a phenomenal play going and attacking the football.”
Kellen Moore sees Riley as the type of player every secondary needs
Riley's interceptions shouldn’t be looked at as an aberration either. Taking away the football is a critical component of Riley’s skill set. His ability to track the ball in the air and attack it puts Riley in position to rack up interceptions.
Moore saw this on film and categorized Riley as a "ball guy." He finds the ball and he attacks the football. That’s one thing we saw on film coming into the draft process. He’s a ball guy. That’s what you need on the back end," Moore said.
As Riley continues to compete with Yiadom, turnovers will strongly help his case. Moore understands mistakes are inevitable at cornerback. That’s especially true for a rookie, but “when you create turnovers, those impact games.” If those turnovers that already translated from college to practice translate to the preseason, Riley will win this job.