Two Saints Players Lions Must Worry About

Here are two Saints players Lions must keep a close eye on Sunday.

Dec 28, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave (12) runs in a touchdown in front of Tennessee Titans cornerback Kemon Hall (40) during the third quarter at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Nelles-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Detroit Lions should have the upper hand in their season-opening contest with the New Orleans Saints.

Yet, there are a couple of Saints players who could wreak havoc against Dan Campbell's squad on Sunday.

With the Lions dealing with issues in their secondary and facing a more-than-capable New Orleans pass-rush, two players in particular should worry Detroit: wide receiver Chris Olave and EDGE Cameron Jordan.

WR Chris Olave

The Lions’ injury-hampered secondary will have its hands full with Olave.

Olave, entering his fifth NFL season, is coming off a career-best 100-catch, 1,163-yard campaign in 2025. He also secured a career-high nine touchdown catches a season ago.

Additionally, in each season where he's played in at least 15 games, he's gone for north of 1,000 receiving yards.

The Ohio State product has had an impressive start to his NFL career, and there's no doubt he'll be the Saints' leading receiver in 2026.

Expect the former first-round pick to be a tough cover for D.J. Reed and Detroit's cornerbacks all Sunday afternoon.

EDGE Cameron Jordan 

Jordan remains ultra productive headed into his 16th NFL season. 

The 2011 first-round pick has spent his entire career in New Orleans, and is undoubtedly one of the best players in franchise history.

Jordan, an eight-time Pro Bowler, is coming off a 10.5-sack campaign in which he earned a 76.0 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. Plus, as he has his entire career, he proved to be ultra reliable against the run in 2025, amassing an 82.1 PFF run-defense grade. It ranked as the fourth-best mark among 115 qualified EDGE defenders.

Jordan is battling a hamstring injury which caused him to miss the entire preseason. However, there is still a solid chance the 37-year-old is active Sunday, and if he is, expect him to make his presence known in the Lions’ backfield.

And even if he's unable to suit up, expect Detroit offensive tackles Blake Miller and Penei Sewell to still have their hands full with Jordan's EDGE counterpart, Chase Young. 

Young, the former No. 2 overall pick of the Washington Commanders, gave quarterbacks fits all season long a year ago. He finished the 2025 campaign with a career-best 10.5 sacks, along with 49 total pressures, while logging just 542 snaps. And for his efforts, he earned a 78.0 overall grade from PFF, including an 86.3 pass-rush mark (ninth-best among all qualified EDGEs).

Both Young and Jordan certainly have a knack for getting after the quarterback. It's why there's little to no question Detroit's offensive line has a big time test ahead of itself in Week 1.