Saints veteran Khalen Saunders reacts to 2025 schedule's lack of prime-time games
Saints veteran Khalen Saunders reacts to 2025 schedule's lack of prime-time games
Khalen Saunders isn't an easy person to surprise. He's seen it all in the NFL -- he's won a pair of Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs, then intercepted his old teammate Patrick Mahomes and sprinted almost halfway to the end zone with the whole football world watching. But the big defensive lineman was still taken aback when he saw the New Orleans Saints' schedule for 2025.
"Zero prime times is (expletive) insane. Wow bro, wow," Saunders wrote on social media. "League said here take yall funky (expletive) schedule and gtfo my face."
He's used to playing under the bright lights. Saunders dressed out for five of the Saints' last six prime-time games and appeared in 13 of them with the Chiefs, and that's just in the regular season. He got on the field in six playoff games with Kansas City, too. This year, the Saints will not kick off a single game on a Sunday, Monday, or Thursday night, ending a 25-year streak that goes back to the day Mickey Loomis was hired in their front office.
So if Saunders wants to end up on another highlight reel, he'll need to make more plays to draw more attention. There's something to be said for working away from the cameras and forcing the networks to put a spotlight on you. But NFL careers are brief. It's a shame this is where the Saints have put themselves, but they only have themselves to blame given the state of the franchise.
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