Will Clapp is back, officially, with the New Orleans Saints, but not as a player.
The Metairie native and NFL veteran announced his retirement as a player last week, and on Tuesday the team announced that he'd been hired as an offensive assistant.
Clapp starred at LSU before being drafted by the Saints in the 7th round in 2018. He played eight NFL seasons split between the Saints, Chargers and Bills. He returned to New Orleans last season and appeared in line to be the backup center but suffered a season-ending foot injury in the preseason finale.
The hire doesn't come as a major surprise, considering Clapp spent a good portion of last year in what looked to be an unofficial assistant capacity, helping out OL coach Brendan Nugent in the OL room.
“Will is phenomenal. ... He’s an important part of our experience here with the offensive line," Moore said at the time. "We have some younger guys playing. Will has got a ton of experience in this league. He’s been an awesome asset for Brendan and the rest of the O-line coaches.”
Moore is familiar with the process of going directly from playing into coaching. He was a backup QB with the Cowboys in 2017 before retiring and becoming the team's QB coach the following season.
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The Saints also had a coaching vacancy after the departure of Jahri Evans to the Steelers. Evans is another example of the organization mining former offensive linemen for coaching roles. Another example is Zach Strief, who spent multiple seasons as the play-by-play announcer for WWL Radio before being hired as an assistant on then-head coach Sean Payton's staff. Strief ultimately rejoined Payton in Denver as the Broncos' OL coach.
The hire also means New Orleans, barring any other moves, will effectively have no new faces on the coaching staff heading into the 2026 season. The team did not fire any staffers, and coaches that were in contention for other jobs, notably QBs coach Scott Tolzien and TEs coach Chase Haslett, opted to stick with the Saints.