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Saints Got Talent: What we learned about the Saints rookie talent show.

Brandon Thomas

Brandon Thomas

August 30, 2024 · 4 min read

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Saints WR Bub Means, LT Taliese Fuaga and QB Spencer Rattler all performed for their teammates during rookie talent show Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

From The Temptations to Lil Boosie, the Saints rookie class put their singing talents on display during the rookie talent show.

Unlike the teams on HBO's Hard Knocks, which have their rookie talent shows televised, the Saints, who have yet to appear on the program, do theirs behind closed doors. So, to find out who has the best voice, we had to ask around, and, well, you'll just have to judge who is telling the truth about their singing abilities and who is not.

No one was willing to admit they were bad, so your best bet might be to just believe in the vote total because those often do not lie -- even if in this case, the winner used props to win.

The winner wasn't Spencer Rattler, who did Warren G's "Regulate," or Kool-Aid McKinstry, who did a different rap song. The winner was the guy they picked first in the draft and brought the energy early on in the talent show to get everyone rocking.

As the team's first-round draft pick, Fuaga was the first player to perform. The offensive tackle decided to go with Too Short's "Blow The Whistle," which he said is one of the songs he listens to to get hyped up. And he used a sound effect in the song to his advantage.

"I came in, and I messed up a little bit; if you mess up, you get booed, but I had a whistle on me," Fuaga said. "I came prepared. I was trying to go one-and-done because if you mess up, you have to go again. I pulled out my whistle, and it went crazy. I have to be at the top of the list because everybody was like, you set the tone because people after me started getting booed."

Fuaga's pick for second place was one that many agreed with. He gave his vote to Josiah Ezirim, who sang The Temptation's 'My Girl.' The offensive tackle strategized, too, and said he wanted to come up with something a little more old-school to cater to his audience.

"I know we got a lot of older guys, so I felt the older guys would like something like a throwback," Ezirim said.

Ezirim was modest when asked about his singing abilities, but, when asked, he gave a little sample of his abilities, and we can report that, yes, he can sing.

Our search to find the winner actually began with defensive tackle Khristian Boyd, who isn't a total stranger to singing. He was a member of his eighth-grade choir and decided to harmonize and hit the notes on an auto-tuned classic. The defensive tackle did a rendition of T-Pain's "Buy U a Drank" and felt good about what he put on display.

"I feel like I let it show," Boyd said. "I went out there with confidence and they loved it. I think I was top three. I'd say Josiah (Ezirim) was good. He sang one of the songs by The Temptations and Bodi (Jacob Kibodi) killed it too."

Kibodi was eager to display his Baton Rouge roots with his performance of Boosie Badazz's "Set It Off."

"It was smooth, but it was a lot of words, and I got tired," Kibodi said.

The thing about these shows is that the audience isn't patient and can be brutal. And, well, Bub Means' performance found that out because his performance was not well received.

"I'm not going to lie: I got booed," Means said. "I did Lil Baby's 'Freestyle' because I'm from Atlanta. I thought everybody was going to know that one. I kind of knew that one wasn't going to work because as soon as I told them what song I was going to be singing everybody was like, 'Aw.'"

Means gave Mason Tipton his vote for the best performance. He was the only one who mentioned him among the best, but Means liked Tipton's rendition of Michael Jackson's "Rock with You."

"Bub is just a good teammate," Tipton said.

The specialists stick together, whether it's during practice, pregame or in the locker room. So, the two newest members of that group, punter Matthew Hayball and kicker Charlie Smyth, performed as a duo.

"I think we were solid. We got a round of applause," Hayball said. "We rapped The Notorious B.I.G's 'Juicy.' I think it was unexpected. So, we got a round of applause. So, I think we fit kind of in the middle."

As Week 1 approaches, the rookies still on the roster have a lot to prove, but when it comes time to showcase their singing ability, some have already left their mark on their teammates -- both for better and worse.

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