When the Las Vegas Raiders claimed former San Francisco 49ers cornerback Darrell Luter Jr. on Monday after roster cutdowns, Decamerion Richardson's days were numbered. And it didn't take long for the Raiders to cast the 2024 fourth-round pick aside, as they waived him later that afternoon.
Luckily for Richardson, he has quickly landed on his feet, as he was claimed by the New Orleans Saints on waivers the following day, according to the NFL's transaction wire. The Louisiana native is headed back home for the time being, as he'll be on the Saints' 53-man roster until further notice.
While this is great news for Richardson, who is still a young player with a lot of potential, the whole thing should strike Las Vegas fans as quite bizarre. This is the fourth Raiders castoff that New Orleans has added this offseason, and there is no clear explanation as to why this keeps happening.
Decamerion Richardson is latest former Raider to join the Saints
This all started back during the 2026 NFL Draft, when John Spytek somehow convinced the Saints to trade for defensive end Tyree Wilson, who was a bust in Las Vegas. The No. 7 overall pick in 2023 certainly has upside, and it was a low-stakes deal, but it was a bit weird that they wanted him at all.
That was just the beginning.
During the preseason, New Orleans also made the most random trade of all time when they shipped a veteran defensive end to the San Francisco 49ers for former Raiders running back Zamir White, who had just signed there a week or so prior. Yes, the Saints had running back injuries, but why White?
To put a bow on things, New Orleans signed longtime Oakland and Las Vegas kicker Daniel Carlson the morning after trading for White. And now, as we just mentioned, the Saints have claimed Richardson. That is four former Raiders being added to the mix in one offseason.
Now, this isn't necessarily atypical in the NFL. When coaches or general managers take new jobs, they often bring pieces of their past with them. This league is about relationships and trust. Raider Nation saw that when Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler brought The Patriot Way to Las Vegas.
Jeff Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan are having a Green Bay Packers reunion in South Beach now that they are in charge of the Miami Dolphins. John Harbaugh has brought an embarrassing number of former Baltimore Ravens to the New York Giants this offseason. It's common practice.
But New Orleans' brass doesn't have any notable ties to Las Vegas. In fact, unless I'm missing something, the Raiders and Saints have absolutely zero ties in the front office or the coaching staff, outside of former Silver & Black linebacker Kyle Wilber being their assistant special teams coach.
If Las Vegas had been dominant over the last few years, then it'd be understandable for other teams to stockpile the surplus of talent the Raiders were casting off. For the same reason that franchises want coaches from the Shanahan/McVay tree, they want discarded players from talented rosters.
Who in their right mind, though, would want a player that wasn't deemed good enough to stick around in Las Vegas, let alone multiple of them? These are insignificant pieces from a 3-14 team that we're talking about. Why is it that the Saints simply can't stay away?
Should I stumble across an explanation, I will alert the presses. But until I find something, I'll continue to be as perplexed as you all are as to why New Orleans wanted to Raiderify their roster. It just makes no sense. But for Richardson, he is at least landing in a spot close to home with some friendly faces.
In Week 3, this band of former Raiders will take on their former team at Caesar's Superdome in New Orleans. Maybe in that contest, they'll show exactly why the Saints made it a point to pluck fruit from whatever tree Las Vegas has planted and grown in recent years.
Or maybe they'll be the same players they have always been, leaving Raider Nation even more confused about why this bizarre trend ever started.
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