Saints waive rookie DL Zxavian Harris one week into training camp

This is a bit of a surprise. The New Orleans Saints waived rookie defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, the team announced Saturday morning. Harris signed with the Saints as an undrafted free agent out of Ole Miss this spring but wasn’t able to practice after undergoing foot surgery back in March. He started training camp on the non-football injury (NFI) list and was waived without taking a snap at practice.

What’s unconfirmed is whether the Saints waived him with an injury designation, which would allow him to stick around on injured reserve and effectively take a redshirt year. The Saints also may have decided the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze and are letting him go. We’ll keep an eye out for updates on that front.

Either way, it’s a disappointing end to the rookie year for Harris. He was seen as a third-round talent who fell out of the draft due to off-field reasons — in addition to that foot injury this spring, he was arrested twice in college — and there were a lot of Saints fans hoping he could heal up and make the team. This may not be the end of the road for him but we won’t be seeing him in black and gold in 2026.