Can Trevor Penning play Left Guard? (4 Viewers)

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Just going by the media timeline at the time

Mike Triplett/NOF’s projected 2024 Saints Offensive Line going into OTA installs

Right side is good. LG doesn’t look as concerning as LT. Saldiveri’s athletic fit for zone scheme and Lemieux’s zone scheme experience & LG starter history feels at least serviceable at LG compared to not knowing what to expect out of LT right now. Maybe the 2.4M cap savings coming after June 1...

saintsreport.com

Trevor Penning will work at LT and RT during OTAs (OTA update: Penning moved to RT)

Essentially, Fuaga would become the LT for 2024 if he looks the most consistent and comfortable there during OTAs. If Penning can be firmly average, he has an opportunity to become the starting LT. It looks like both players’ LT reps at OTAs will be evaluated against one another. Its possibly...

saintsreport.com

Mike Triplett initially penciled Penning in at LT a week before Fuaga did only LT reps at rookie minicamp. It was presumed Fuaga was stepping into his only known position at RT.

A week after NOF’s OL projections, and a week before OTAs, Underhill put out an article reporting Penning would get work at LT and RT in OTAs. The first time hearing Penning was looking at any RT reps.

Allen indicated that nothing was firmly decided at LT even though Fuaga was clearly the better OT between the two. That implied one or both were going to cross train to be the starting LT throughout the offseason. But Fuaga strongarmed the LT spot with how disciplined he looked at LT early on in camp.

Nonetheless, Fuaga solely training to become a starting NFL LT and Penning moving to RT in OTAs became the best outcome for the exterior OL. There’s a stud LT on the left side and Penning can build confidence off a fairly ok season on the right side going into year 2 at RT. It would be wise for them to not continue moving him around so he can develop properly at one spot.

That’s not entirely accurate but again it’s not worth me researching articles to prove you wrong because I’ll gain no satisfaction from it.

 

[MV2]

To the OP, please stop. The kid exceeded expectations this year. He was thought to be the weakest link and turned out to be our 2nd best lineman. He doesn't need a 3rd position in 3 years. Leave him where he is.

 

[DSnfla]

I hope they don’t move Fuaga, he had a good season as a rookie at the hardest position to find a starter at on the line.

Why not just pick someone to fill the actual need at guard, which is more likely to be found with a day two pick than a LT is.

They’ve been building and rebuilding this OL for going on seven years with bad drafting and mismanagement, picking players to fill positions they didn’t even play is partly the reason why.

There is no position group in football that players change position more than OL. It happens all the time. Some of the best OGs and Cs started out as OTs . It's not like you're making a WR play DT

 

[MikeyF]

Almost anyone who plays T can move inside to G.
T have better feet than G that is why so many teams draft a T & move them inside to G.

It is much harder to draft a G & move them outside to T.
It happens occasionally but not often...

Penning has tremendous pancake run blocking skills but this isn't a good reason to move him inside.

As far as the pressures that are now tracked...
If your allowed pressure's didn't force a pick, a throw away, an incompletion, a loss of yardage due to the QB throwing to his check down
they are completely useless stats...

He didn't allow many sacks & that matters.

 

[BELOWSEALEVEL]

I can only speculate but I believe the staff didn't do much of anything on both sides of the ball pertaining to line development.
Just ask Cam and he'll tell us

 

[Dastheat_9]

Penning improved. The saints have SO many holes I say address as many as you can and if Penning doesn’t improve again after next season then you look for a replacement. If RT was our weak link I’d say sure do it now, but worrying about Penning right now and not our bigger holes is like buying rims for your car while the transmission is busted.

I can get behind that!!

 

[St.Fury]

Should or could Penning be the next left guard?

You want to move him again? We finally found a spot he's decent at. Moving him again could cause him to take a step back in his development.

 

[Domeination]

Penning was never in contention for Guard. They signed an experienced starting Left Guard Lucas Patrick before minicamp.

The initial plan going into May was for Penning to compete with Fuaga at Left Tackle. But Fuaga ran away with the starting Left Tackle job from day 1 in rookie minicamp. Penning’s next options were compete for starting RT with Udoh or he would have became the top backup OT.

Fortunately Penning was able to establish himself as a starting RT. His development needs the continuity of staying at the one position working for him.

 

[Randy Jones]

Apparently some who have responded here cannot differentiate between a statement and an interogative. In my initial post, note the question mark. Those who facepalmed me or clowned me seem to lack basic grammar skills. It was a question with the intent to generate a discussion. The sophomoric nonsense some you engage in does not reflect well on yourselves.
Some of you all may just want to lighten up a bit. To quote from a sixties song, “I'm just a soul whose intentions are good. Oh Lord, please don’t let me misunderstood.”

 

[SuperSaint]

I think hes developing into a solid RT that can handle the spot for years, lets not mess with that

BUT holy hell do we need a stud OG or two

Agreed.

Considering how much work he's put in to be (solid?) at RT, making him learn a 3rd position might break what we already have.

Interior O-line has to be considered one of our biggest needs going into next season.

 

[RJS]

Apparently some who have responded here cannot differentiate between a statement and an interogative. In my initial post, note the question mark. Those who facepalmed me or clowned me seem to lack basic grammar skills. It was a question with the intent to generate a discussion. The sophomoric nonsense some you engage in does not reflect well on yourselves.
Some of you all may just want to lighten up a bit. To quote from a sixties song, “I'm just a soul whose intentions are good. Oh Lord, please don’t let me misunderstood.”

Some people don't think his flaws would translate well to playing guard. I don't know. I do look at a player in Mekhi Becton that struggled to find a spot at tackle with the Jets and he had the same narrative surrounding him in that he would be even worse at guard. He even had our OL coach John Benton there trying to make it work at tackle.

The Jets eventually gave up and Philly picked him up for cheap and he's played very well at guard for the Eagles. Jeff Stoutland seems to know how to get the best out of every OL. It's possible that Penning could play well there.

 

[Saint KayBee]

Almost anyone who plays T can move inside to G.
T have better feet than G that is why so many teams draft a T & move them inside to G.

It is much harder to draft a G & move them outside to T.
It happens occasionally but not often...

Penning has tremendous pancake run blocking skills but this isn't a good reason to move him inside.

As far as the pressures that are now tracked...
If your allowed pressure's didn't force a pick, a throw away, an incompletion, a loss of yardage due to the QB throwing to his check down
they are completely useless stats...

He didn't allow many sacks & that matters.

Jahri Evans and Carl Nicks were college tackles who moved to guard, and had great success at it. They were also each about 6’4”, whereas Penning is 6’7” like Andrus Peat is. It’s a 3-inch difference but there aren’t a lot of 6’7” guys playing guard for a reason - it’s very hard on their bodies from a leverage standpoint. Peat had a lot of lower body injuries while playing guard, but when Terron Armstead would leave/miss his 4-8 games per season and Peat would move to LT, he typically played fine and pretty much never got hurt playing there.

I think the recipe for college tackle, pro guard is a guy in that 6’3”-6’5” range who graded well at run blocking (maybe played in a run-first system) who moves well, to be effective on pulls and traps. Quick hands are less important than strong hands, but still want someone who’s going to win those battles when brute strength isn’t enough to carry a series of reps. I don’t know what prospects fit that profile as of now. Maybe one of the draftniks here can add some input.

 

[Jd101]

No
But Tyler Booker can

Penning is too tall to move to guard. I would love Booker in round 2

 

[Goatman Saint]

Penning had his good game, and his bad games. He’s a monster in run blocking, and still developing as a pass defender. Which only makes sense as he was a small school guy whose draft position was more on potential rather than performance against major programs. But then that’s how the saints have drafted recently.

He finally settled into RT. Sure he had his bad days (Green Bay) but other times he was top 5 even top 2. Once this board gets after someone, they stay horrible forever. Anyone remember Ingram? Anyway, he improved dramatically. Keep him, keep coaching him up. If we trade or lose him now we are back to using another high draft pick on a tackle which gets us no where as we need 3/4 of a defensive line, 5/6 of a WR corps, safety or two, a running back, possibly a TE, a linebacker to groom. We don’t need to waste a pick by messing with Penning. Plus, while Rattler has potential, his decision making for the most part was glacial and that lead to a high sack and pressure count.

 

[draftfreak]

Should or could Penning be the next left guard?

If he is still on the team next season (hope he's not), I hope he can play LG. He isn't good anywhere else.