The New Orleans Saints have shuffled their offensive line again this season, but will the investment pay off under new head coach Kellen Moore?
That group features four first-round selections, the oldest of whom, RG Cesar Ruiz, joined WWL Radio this week to share his outlook on the team ahead of camp.
“The sky is the limit. We’re as good as we … would want to be. We’ll be as good as we work, so I’m excited for every single guy," Ruiz told Mike Detillier on SportsTalk. "It’s so much talent across this entire offensive line. We’ll be as good as we tell ourselves we can be, but I do think the sky is the limit for this front, too, just super, super excited for everybody.”
Hear the full, exclusive interview with Saints RG Cesar Ruiz in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
The xx-year-old spent time this offseason helping to organize a bike giveaway in his hometown of Camden, New Jersey, gifting more than 150 bikes, helmets and safety gear to kids in the area. He'll officially turn his attention to the 2025 season and training camp next week, where he'll join Erik McCoy in headlining a group that expects to feature three starters at new positions.
One of those players is No. 9 overall pick Kelvin Banks Jr, who is expected to play left tackle, along with Trevor Penning kicking inside to left guard after playing tackle his first three seasons, and Taliese Fuaga shifting over to right tackle after playing on the left side during his rookie season.
“I’ll offer [Banks] every piece of advice I can give him, because I was in his shoes," Ruiz said. "The same advice I offered Tali and Trevor, because I’ve been in those shoes, you know, and I think the biggest thing to let him know is hey man, go out there and play football. Go out there and play football, just understand what you’re doing. Don’t overthink. … The second you just tell yourself to go play ball, things get a lot easier.”
The Saints kick off practices on Wednesday, July 23 at the team facility in Metairie.
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MORE FROM RUIZ
On working with young QBs/rookie Tyler Shough
“I can tell you this from being with these guys in the offseason training, OTAs and minicamp, all the guys are about their business and especially Tyler coming in and being a rookie, seeing how he carries himself, it’s impressive. He’s about his business and I love seeing him work. I love seeing all the guys work. I love seeing Spencer [Rattler], Jake [Haener], I love seeing all the guys work. They’re all about their business and they’re in there and when it’s that time to roll, you know, they’re going to take their opportunity and run with it.”
On Fuaga switching to RT
“It’s really exciting. Me and Erik, we have like a telepathic connection. We don’t even have to talk to talk to each other on the field sometimes … we’ve played next to each other so much, and me playing next to Tali, I’m super excited, and he’s excited as well. We joked about it before sometimes like, man, I wonder what it’d be like to play next to each other sometimes, we would joke around like that and it’s happening now and it’s just great man. He’s a super talented young guy.”
Early impressions of Kellen Moore
“Yea, I’ve been a big fan, was a fan before we hired him. I just love the type of offense he ran and just love the scheme and now that you get to build a connection with him, you get to know him, he’s a great, great person, too, so that equals a great coach and I’m just really excited and just so really happy to have him here and I’m just excited to get things rolling with him.”