The New Orleans Saints shocked the football world with an exciting win over their rivaled Atlanta Falcons. It was clear that the impact of interim head coach Darren Rizzi had an influence on this team, as they came out with a ton of energy and made a statement to Atlanta early in the game. For a second straight week, we saw majority of the rookie class inactive with the addition of Khristian Boyd this week. Fuaga was the only player drafted who took snaps this week on either side of the ball. But one player surprised us this week in his first game active.

Here are our Week 10 grades for our 2024 Saints rookie class:

LT Taliese Fuaga

Fuaga suffered a thigh injury during the first half of this game, but managed to fight his way back into the game. He did a solid job of slowing down one of the quicker pass rushers on the Falcons Arnold Ebiketie, while holding his own in the run game early on in the contest.

Grade: B+

CB Kool-Aid McKinstry

McKinstry was inactive for this game with a hamstring injury.

Grade: n/a

QB Spencer Rattler

Rattler served as the team’s emergency quarterback.

Grade: n/a

WR Bub Means

Means was inactive for this game as he was placed on IR with an ankle injury.

Grade: n/a

LB Jaylan Ford

Ford was a healthy inactive for this game.

Grade: n/a

DT Khristian Boyd

Boyd was a healthy inactive for this game.

Grade: n/a

OT Josiah Ezirim

Ezirim remains on the team’s practice squad.

Grade: n/a

WR Mason Tipton

Tipton's role in this offense has quickly dwindled from a potential young, playmaker to complete non-factor. Guys like Kevin Austin Jr. and Dante Pettis received their share of targets, while not one ball came Tipton's way on Sunday.

Grade: D

P Matthew Hayball

Hayball had an excellent day on Sunday, punting five times for an average of 44.8 yards per boot, while landing four of them inside of the 20. His play helped force Atlanta into poor field position, ultimately forcing them to drive the length of the field.

Grade: B

CB Rico Payton

There was the potential that Payton could start on Sunday with McKinstry out, but unfortunately we were not able to see his debut at cornerback for the Saints. The team went with Shemar Jean-Charles at corner as the experienced vet but it's quite possible that they didn't want to rush Payton back into a high volume role while nursing an injury.

On special teams though, Payton continues to make an impact flying down the field in a hurry and getting to the ball carrier.

Grade: B+

TE Dallin Holker

Holker had his snaps cut in half from last week offensively and didn't see any action on special teams this week.

Grade: D

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Rookie report card: Grading the Saints 2024 draft class after Week 10