New Orleans Saints edge-rusher Tyree Wilson is ready for his second act.
During Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Las Vegas Raiders dealt the former 2023 first-round pick (No. 7 overall) and a 2026 seventh (No. 219) to the Saints for a 2026 fifth (No. 150 overall), marking an unceremonious end to a disappointing three-season run in Sin City.
Perhaps the Big Easy will be different.
“It’s always a blessing when you get to come to a place where you’re wanted, and they’re happy about you, happy that you’re in the building, and get excited to get my career going in the right trajectory,” Wilson recently told the Saints official team website.
“Everybody’s timetable in the NFL is different,” the former Texas Tech and Texas A&M defender added. “I’m glad for the fresh start, and I’m ready to dominate on the field.”
Tyree Wilson in arguably best spot for career revival after trade to New Orleans Saints
As Saints.com senior writer John DeShazier noted, Wilson can take inspiration from teammate Chase Young, who’s undergone a career resurgence after initially signing a one-year, $13M “prove it” deal in March 2024.
The 2020 No. 2 overall pick had a career-high 10 sacks in 12 games last season. According to Sports Info Solutions data, Young ranked first among defensive ends with at least 100 pass rushes in pressure rate, generating 60 pressures in 264 opportunities.
“I feel like we can see eye to eye,” Wilson told DeShazier. “He knows what it’s like being a top pick in the NFL… That’d be another role model by my side, somebody that can boost my game and learn things from.”
Wilson has 12 sacks in 50 career games while failing to play much more than a rotational role for the Raiders, playing a career-low 463 defensive snaps in 2025. Since being drafted, he’s played 43.9 percent of his available snaps on defense, which ranks No. 15 among 20 defensive ends selected in the top 10 since 2010 through their first three seasons, per Stathead.
If Young’s guidance helps Wilson, who turns 26 on May 20, reach his full potential, that would give the Saints a monster edge-rushing duo. In the lead-up to the 2023 NFL Draft, NFL.com analyst Daniel Jeremiah had Wilson as the top edge-rusher taken, going No. 3 overall to the Arizona Cardinals ahead of Will Anderson, named first-team All-Pro last season.
“His combination of size, length and production has teams very intrigued,” Jeremiah wrote.
Wilson’s potential made trading a fifth-round pick a no-brainer for New Orleans, which wasn’t going to find anyone with as much upside that late in the draft.
The Saints are also getting a highly motivated player entering a contract year after they announced their intentions of declining his fifth-year option, setting him up for free agency next offseason, barring a franchise tag, which Over The Cap projects at $28.7M for defensive ends in 2027. If he proves that, New Orleans should be ecstatic.
With Young and Carl Granderson projected starters and Anfernee Jennings, a strong run-defending edge, signing in free agency, Wilson will have his work cut out for him in earning more than a rotational role. His spot could be further tested if longtime veteran Cameron Jordan re-signs.
But after his career stalled in Las Vegas, New Orleans offers a chance at rebirth. It worked for Young. It could work again.