The New Orleans Saints have signed linebacker Chase Hansen from the practice squad to the active roster and signed quarterback Jake Luton to the practice squad, it was announced today by Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis.
Hansen, 6-3, 230, was originally signed by New Orleans as an undrafted free agent out of Utah in 2019. He has appeared in five regular season games and two postseason games the past three seasons. Hansen recorded one special teams tackle in the 2021 regular season and also had one in the 2020 NFC Wild Card Playoff win over Chicago. In the 2022 preseason, he posted five tackles (four solo), a 44-yard interception return and one pass defense. The Highland, Utah native was a four-year starter for the Utes, who played in 43 games with 35 starts at both safety and linebacker and finished his college career with 272 tackles, 33.5 stops for loss, eight sacks, six interceptions, 22 passes defensed, five fumble recoveries and four forced fumbles. As a senior in 2018, he was a consensus second-team All-American who started 13 games and finished second on the team with 114 tackles, leading the Pac-12 Conference with 22 stops for loss and added two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown and four passes defensed.
Luton (pronounced Loo-ten), 6-6, 224, was originally selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the sixth round (189th overall) in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Oregon State. As a rookie, he started all three games he appeared in for Jacksonville and completed 60-of-110 passes for 624 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions and rushed for a score. In 2021, he had stints on both the active roster and practice squad of the Seattle Seahawks for the first two months of the regular season before joining the Miami Dolphins practice squad for the final seven weeks. Luton spent the 2022 offseason and preseason with the Jaguars. The Marysville, Wash. native completed his Oregon State career playing in 23 games for the Beavers with 21 starts and ranked fifth in school record books with 42 touchdown passes and 5,227 passing yards. As senior in 2019, he completed 222-of-358 passes (62.0%) for 28 touchdowns and only three interceptions. He became only the third quarterback in OSU history to throw for more than 20 touchdowns and nine or fewer interceptions. Luton started his career at Idaho in 2015 and spent the 2016 season at Ventura Community College before transferring to Oregon State.
