The New Orleans Saints brought in another hometown player in wide receiver Jontre Kirklin. Kirklin, Lutcher native, spent his college days as an LSU Tiger. His Louisiana roots run deep with a chance to go even deeper now with the Saints.
Though he’s listed as a wide receiver, that likely won’t be Kirklin’s path to a roster spot. Kirklin had just 20 catches for 313 yards during his career at LSU, he just didn’t have a ton of opportunities in that room behind future pros likeJustin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, DJ Chark Jr., and Terrace Marshall Jr. He had a promising start to his XFL career but unfortunately fell to injury. During his four-game stint with the Houston Roughnecks he had 15 catches for 253 yards and four touchdown receptions.
Kirklin’s most-likely opportunity will come in the special teams room. He had seven tackles with two missed tackles during his LSU career. He averaged around 46 kick coverage snaps and 17 punt coverage snaps per season at the college level.
Special teams is a viable way to make a name for yourself with the Saints; we’ve seen players like J.T. Gray, Dwayne Washington, Justin Hardee and Chris Banjo earn a roster spot from special teams contributions and then go on to get playing time as a backup in their natural position.
Some wide receivers that Kirklin could find himself in competition with would be Kirk Merritt, Keith Kirkwood (big Kirk representation in training camp), James Washington and Tre’Quan Smith.
Kirklin is a player that will be easy for fans to get behind. His legacy was made as fantastic teammate as an LSU Tiger, who would do whatever the team needed him to do. To understand what kind of teammate Kirklin is, you don’t need to look further than the 2022 Texas Bowl in which Kirklin stepped in as the quarterback for his last game on a team with just over 30 players on scholarship.
He gave an all-time quote during his post-game press conference, which really exemplifies his attitude even today: “We’re Fightin’ Tigers. We’re not going to back down from nobody. If we’ve got 11, we’re going to go play.”
