New Orleans Saints cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry has a big matchup on Monday, as the visiting Atlanta Falcons will be touting wide receiver Drake London. A top WR in the league who is coming off of the greatest game in his career, McKinstry can't let up one bit when the Dirty Birds come to town.
Fortunately, defensive coordinator Brandon Staley has a lot of faith in the cornerback. "He's been one of those guys really bringing a lot of energy; you guys see him out there, and you can see his confidence," Staley said to the media. "He's been making consistent improvement every week, no matter what. Whether it was a great performance or a performance where he'd like to have a few plays back, he's made a lot of progress. So we just need to stay the course that way."
So far through three weeks of play McKinstry has four pass breakups and is on pace for 22, which would not only be a career best but also a number that would've topped the league last year. The same amount of passes defended that he had in his last game against the Falcons, this next one should be a continuation of that. On Monday in primetime, McKinstry will get another test as he continues to trend up.
In his first season as the Saints' CB1, Kool-Aid McKinstry has no lack of confidence
2026 marks Kool-Aid McKinstry's first full season as the Saints top cornerback, a role that Paulson Adebo and Alontae Taylor previously held respectively. Despite being on a career-best pace, McKinstry has still had his fair share of growing pains, with Brock Bowers lighting up the statsheet against him. However, that comes with the territory of being a top cornerback in the NFL, and as Staley has said, McKinstry just needs to stay the course.
In typical Saints luck, the Falcons offense had their turnaround just in time for the rivalry matchup in New Orleans, putting up 498 yards in Green Bay last week. Finally able to get the ball down the field, London was the man of the match with 194 receiving yards on 10 targets. McKinstry will have to prepare for a vertical attack, because Atlanta is bound to keep using that well until it dries up.
But the sign of yet another high-caliber test certainly hasn't hampered McKinstry's confidence, with him saying that he just goes out there and plays. "I know who I am. I'm very confident about who I am, and I know what kind of athlete/football player I am and could be, so I definitely look forward to those challenges."
This season, despite being on the field for every play (205 snaps), quarterbacks have only thrown the ball McKinstry's way about 6% of the time (12 targets). This Monday, he could very well see more targets than he has all season, but no matter the amount of times the ball goes his way, McKinstry still has all the confidence in the world.
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