Jonas Sanker
New Orleans SaintsModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Season Stats · 17 games
Draft & College
He went about where consensus had him.
Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.
Comps
STM Take
Rookie tier 8 (#57) for a 110th overall 4th-round pick is on the year-one band for Day 3 S prospects. The Virginia ACC 2024 First-Team All-ACC honors plus the structural Saints anchor role gives him real college foundation. The 2026 question is whether Sanker crosses into tier 7 territory in his year-two jump or whether the role compresses to swing depth.
Sanker came out of Virginia as the New Orleans Saints' 4th-round pick (110th overall) in 2025 after earning 2024 First-Team All-ACC honors. The Saints used him in the safety rotation as a rookie. His first STTM appearance comes in 2025 at tier 8 (#57), the year-one developmental band for 4th-round S prospects.
Strengths
- Virginia ACC 2024 First-Team All-ACC honors plus the 110th overall draft slot gives him real college foundation.
- Year-one rotational reps for the Saints at age 22 plus the structural anchor reps gives him the developmental runway.
Concerns
- Rookie tier 8 (#57) is on the year-one band for 4th-round S picks but below the breakout-tier expectations.
- New Orleans's broader defensive identity transition compresses the structural support around Sanker.
What to watch: Whether Sanker crosses into tier 7 (top 55) in 2026, the standard year-two threshold for 4th-round S picks on stable-starter trajectories.