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I had a random musing this morning. I want to start out by saying this isn't a "bashing" thread or a "OMG, the saints are terrible, rain miserable rain" thread.
There have been comments (coaches, media, etc) saying how Offensive line is much harder to practice/develop with the changes to the practice rules. I'm not sure how much stock I put in that, but it's out there. So, it seems like game experience is really at a premium. Probably why you see OL contracts, especially guard contracts inflating the last few years. There's a premium on experience now. But at the same token, some rookies have done just fine.
Looking back at our draft history, I can't think of anyone (maybe other than Nicks??) that we've drafted on the O-Line that started right away. Strief took a few years. Armstead was a year or so, I believe. Bushrod was a year or two, and I think fans were ready to give up on him. Jahri Evans took a few weeks (due to Nesbit getting hurt) to take over that job. Every center we've had worth a lick was either a FA or someone with a year or two experience (and some of them weren't great).
I'm not giving up on Peat, but the vision for him was Tackle. And judging by his issues on the right side of the line, maybe he's really meant to be a LT and can't handle the RT (I'm not sure how often he's been able to play RT, but seems like he can't push Strief out of that job). I hope he solidifies the LG position, since he seems to be better on the left.
But given those struggles, are we going to avoid drafting a guard next year early? Does that factor in vs the talent/style of college offense?
Next year a lot of that dead money killing us now will be gone. That's like 3-5 quality FA's. Now, some of our current contracts will be bigger, so I'm sure that will cut into that "extra" cap space, but let's imagine we can make 2 big moves. I fully expect a guard in FA next year (if nothing happens now). Hopefully with Peat at LG this year, the OL won't be as bad as many are concerned about.
Not counting Brees we have 47M in contract space (also not accounting for cap increase). Brees will cost 15-25M against the cap next year, I'm sure (if extended this year, much lower if we re-sign next year, much much much lower and crappier if we don't re-sign him at all). So, that leaves us with about 22M+ in FA. Some of that will likely go to Breaux, unless they try to squeeze another cheap year out of him. There may be some other contracts I'm not counging, but that's pretty solid space for this team. We'd have been fine this year if not for all the dead money from guys no longer on the team. So, our medicine got extended a year.
So, thoughts? Do you think FA is the way to go for future Offensive line holes? Do you still think the Draft is the way to go and there have been enough success stories? Why does our system seem to be a hard learn for OL rookies?
There have been comments (coaches, media, etc) saying how Offensive line is much harder to practice/develop with the changes to the practice rules. I'm not sure how much stock I put in that, but it's out there. So, it seems like game experience is really at a premium. Probably why you see OL contracts, especially guard contracts inflating the last few years. There's a premium on experience now. But at the same token, some rookies have done just fine.
Looking back at our draft history, I can't think of anyone (maybe other than Nicks??) that we've drafted on the O-Line that started right away. Strief took a few years. Armstead was a year or so, I believe. Bushrod was a year or two, and I think fans were ready to give up on him. Jahri Evans took a few weeks (due to Nesbit getting hurt) to take over that job. Every center we've had worth a lick was either a FA or someone with a year or two experience (and some of them weren't great).
I'm not giving up on Peat, but the vision for him was Tackle. And judging by his issues on the right side of the line, maybe he's really meant to be a LT and can't handle the RT (I'm not sure how often he's been able to play RT, but seems like he can't push Strief out of that job). I hope he solidifies the LG position, since he seems to be better on the left.
But given those struggles, are we going to avoid drafting a guard next year early? Does that factor in vs the talent/style of college offense?
Next year a lot of that dead money killing us now will be gone. That's like 3-5 quality FA's. Now, some of our current contracts will be bigger, so I'm sure that will cut into that "extra" cap space, but let's imagine we can make 2 big moves. I fully expect a guard in FA next year (if nothing happens now). Hopefully with Peat at LG this year, the OL won't be as bad as many are concerned about.
Not counting Brees we have 47M in contract space (also not accounting for cap increase). Brees will cost 15-25M against the cap next year, I'm sure (if extended this year, much lower if we re-sign next year, much much much lower and crappier if we don't re-sign him at all). So, that leaves us with about 22M+ in FA. Some of that will likely go to Breaux, unless they try to squeeze another cheap year out of him. There may be some other contracts I'm not counging, but that's pretty solid space for this team. We'd have been fine this year if not for all the dead money from guys no longer on the team. So, our medicine got extended a year.
So, thoughts? Do you think FA is the way to go for future Offensive line holes? Do you still think the Draft is the way to go and there have been enough success stories? Why does our system seem to be a hard learn for OL rookies?