The New Orleans Saints have a lot of players to be excited about, but also a potentially massive issue as they head toward the 2024 season.
Who will start at either tackle spot? The answer is up in the air, and if anything it's become more in flux with a negative update on Ryan Ramczyk's knee issue for the right side. On the left, the team appears set to give Trevor Penning a chance to earn that job, but there's little in the way of a fallback should he flounder again, as Bobby Hebert explained on WWL this week.
Listen to the full interview with Bobby Hebert in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"You’ve got to win in the trenches," Hebert told Mike Detillier and Charlie Long on SportsTalk. "You can ask Sean Payton or Drew Brees this, every fan follows the football, but when we were truly special, we were a top five offensive line year in, year out and controlling the line of scrimmage with the run and the pass."
It's an issue that persisted for the Saints throughout the 2023 season, be it due to injury or ineffective play. Difficulties up front accumulated into what was the least productive rushing season for Alvin Kamara (694 yards), and the others in the RB room also struggled to find traction. Derek Carr was also sacked 11 times through the first three weeks of the season. The Saints were able to cut that number down significantly as the weeks wore on and allowed just 24 more sacks the rest of the way, but not before Carr suffered a shoulder injury that impacted him throughout the year.
So, what's the answer? As the Cajun Cannon explains, it could -- and probably should -- be the same as a year ago, when Andrus Peat bumped out to tackle and performed well. Peat remains on the free agent market, with little noted interest beyond a visit to the Titans. The Saints could also opt to draft a tackle at No. 14, but that will only address one side of the issue.
The Saints have also signed veteran tackle Oli Udoh in free agency, but he is likely to be a depth option.
“Who would you rather have right now, are you going to pray and just throw the dice that Trevor Penning is going to work out, or do you want Andrus Peat?" Hebert continued. "I think I would trust Andrus Peat, if I was the quarterback.”
Peat has played his entire career in New Orleans since the team selected him No. 13 overall out of Stanford in 2015. Though being drafted and initially played at tackle, he was quickly bumped inside to guard next to Terron Armstead, where he was named to three consecutive Pro Bowl rosters from 2018-'20.
