Saints 324-pound DT Khalen Saunders on INT: ‘Them running back days flashed in my head’ Oct 08, 2024

New Orleans defensive tackle Khalen Saunders briefly kept the Saints in Monday night’s game at Arrowhead Stadium with a two-play sequence that provided a spark in an otherwise deary 26-13 loss in Kansas City.

The former Chiefs third-round pick smashed Travis Kelce on an inside flip. Then, on the next play — as ESPN recounted that Saunders’ brother, Kameron, works as a backup dancer for Taylor Swift, who was in attendance Monday night — the 324-pound DT one-hand swiped an interception that bounded off JuJu Smith-Schuster. Saunders rumbled out of the end zone for 37 yards.

“I was trying to get it home, man. Take it home. Them running back days flashed in my head,” Saunders said, via the Associated Press. “I was like, ‘That’s 101 (yards). That’s a little ways to go.’ But I was trying to give us some real field position.”

The interception and return set up a Saints touchdown drive, which pulled New Orleans within three points, 16-13, before the Chiefs ran away late in the fourth quarter.

Saunders reached a top speed of 15.79 mph, the third-fastest speed by a ball carrier who weighs over 320 pounds since 2016, per Next Gen Stats. The two fastest plays by ball carriers over 320 pounds in the past nine seasons were Linval Joseph (18.16 mph at 329 pounds) on a 64-yard fumble return TD in Week 5, 2018, and George Fant (16.28 mph at 322 pounds) on a 9-yard reception in Week 14, 2018.

Saunders spent the first four years of his career in Kansas City as a rotational interior defender. He generated 3.5 sacks in 2022 before signing in New Orleans in 2023. Monday marked his first career interception.

The 28-year-old said that having faced Patrick Mahomes and Kelce in practice for years helped provide intimate knowledge that the flip to the tight end could be coming to the play before the INT.

“I knew it was coming. I know that little ‘tight end flip,'” Saunders said. “Man, I told you, there’s certain plays they just can’t run while I’m in the game. And a lot of them are screens and the tight end flip. I was on the scout team for a long time. I have been going against Trav and Pat for a long time. I know all the little tricks and stuff like that.”

The big man rumbling with the ball secured high and tight like a 220-pound running back brought levity and entertainment to an otherwise dismal day for the Saints. Dennis Allen’s club did little to slow Mahomes and Co. outside of the red zone, and the offense couldn’t get on track. The third consecutive loss sent the Stinats to 2-3 on the season.

Saunders took an optimistic outlook after Monday’s loss.

“We got to continue going forward,” Saunders said. “This doesn’t do anything but guarantee that we won’t be any better than 14-3 and I believe that. I’ve been on teams that lost in Week 10 and didn’t lose no more. So stuff like that is always encouraging.”

New Orleans will need to get right on a short week when the 3-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to town in Week 6.