Detillier: Saints rookie Taliese Fuaga looks like he can thrive at LT (1 Viewer)

[MikeyF]

Detillier: Saints rookie Taliese Fuaga looks like he can thrive at LT

One of the biggest surprises of the New Orleans Saints offseason so far is not that they have a rookie taking significant tackle work, but where they’ve been aligned. That’s where Mike Detillier was focused on the first day of OTAs.

www.audacy.com

 

[pcww]

Detillier: Saints rookie Taliese Fuaga looks like he can thrive at LT

One of the biggest surprises of the New Orleans Saints offseason so far is not that they have a rookie taking significant tackle work, but where they’ve been aligned. That’s where Mike Detillier was focused on the first day of OTAs.

www.audacy.com

I have always wondered if he can play left tackle as well as right, why didn't his college coach switch him? These folks have watched him daily for years. Maybe LT was adequate but be interesting to find out reasons.
Just curious since I don't know much about process .

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Detillier: Saints rookie Taliese Fuaga looks like he can thrive at LT

One of the biggest surprises of the New Orleans Saints offseason so far is not that they have a rookie taking significant tackle work, but where they’ve been aligned. That’s where Mike Detillier was focused on the first day of OTAs.

www.audacy.com

Welcome to the party Mike

 

[tjharris]

I more confident in Fuaga playing LT than Penning playing RT.
I do have to say as much as Allen was criticized, rightfully so, for being slow with/not making changes. He has made changes this offseason. I'm just hoping they all workout.

 

[MikeyF]

I have always wondered if he can play left tackle as well as right, why didn't his college coach switch him? These folks have watched him daily for years. Maybe LT was adequate but be interesting to find out reasons.
Just curious since I don't know much about process .

This probably goes back to what John Benton said, "due to defenses making adjustments, you need athletic tackles on the right and left side in today's game; not just a snot knockers on the right and an athletic tackle on the left."

 

[MikeyF]

I more confident in Fuaga playing LT than Penning playing RT.
I do have to say as much as Allen was criticized, rightfully so, for being slow with/not making changes. He has made changes this offseason. I'm just hoping they all workout.

DA's problem is that he was loyal to Pete Carmichael when he took over as HC but he & the Saints owed this to Pete because of his years of loyalty. Pete deserved a chance to prove himself as OC without Payton...

Most HC's would not have made wholesale changes after finishing 9-8 and barely missing out on the playoffs...

They would have fixed the OL problems and tried again next year!

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

DA's problem is that he was loyal to Pete Carmichael when he took over as HC but he & the Saints owed this to Pete because of his years of loyalty. Pete deserved a chance to prove himself as OC without Payton...

Most HC's would not have made wholesale changes after finishing 9-8 and barely missing out on the playoffs...

They would have fixed the OL problems and tried again next year!

It wasn't loyalty, they thought continuity and consistently would lead to success. It didn't, they moved on. That's it, that's the story.

 

[jboss]

I have always wondered if he can play left tackle as well as right, why didn't his college coach switch him? These folks have watched him daily for years. Maybe LT was adequate but be interesting to find out reasons.
Just curious since I don't know much about process .

Looked into this and it seems to me they just had Joshua Gray, who's going into his sixth year of college ball, locked in at the LT position. He's been the starter there since 2020 and this might just be a continuity thing. He's played pretty well from what I've read so the coach's probably just wanted to roll with him at left and put Fuaga at right.

I'm sure if he had the opportunity Fuaga would have thrived at LT. And maybe he wouldn't have been available at 14. Time will tell but we might've stole this guy where we picked him.

 

[WakeDog17]

His coach actually said the LT they had was established & working well or he would have had Fuaga play on that side
Previous post mentions this in detail at same time I was typing.

 

[BreesHOF2024]

Can’t wait to see the run game this year with Fuaga holding down LT. It fell off a cliff after Armstead left, it’ll be nice to have a stud locking it down again

 

[St. Widge]

This probably goes back to what John Benton said, "due to defenses making adjustments, you need athletic tackles on the right and left side in today's game; not just a snot knockers on the right and an athletic tackle on the left."

That seems right. I mean I know there is a lot of game tape of Fuaga blocking Latu when Oregon State played UCLA because Latu, one of the best pass rushers in the country, was lining up over the RT. It may be that their coach realized that he was just as valuable at RT or he just didn't want to move him after he had settled in at RT.

If I recall correctly, Fuaga played LT in high school and went to college as a LT. But he moved to RT because Oregon State had an opening at RT early in his career.

 

[sfidc3]

Can’t wait to see the run game this year with Fuaga holding down LT. It fell off a cliff after Armstead left, it’ll be nice to have a stud locking it down again

Back in like 2018 I started a thread that showed the Saints offensive stats with and without Armstead, it was quite alarming....just too bad he couldn't stay healthy.....HOF level talent....

 

[texasjefe]

Based on the previous posts that looked into his past, I just watched some of his HUDL high school video, from his junior season. I saw him line up at RT, RG, LT, and DE.

For us, Kubiak comes in, and they target a 1st round lineman from a power school who has position versatility in his history.

 

[Pocket Hercules]

I'm higher on Penning than most, admittedly, but I think he's been failed thus far in his young NFL career from a coaching perspective - Marrone is way over the hill - and I think a new scheme + new position + extra effort put in during the offseason is going to produce results. I'm optimistic.

 

[MikeyF]

I'm higher on Penning than most, admittedly, but I think he's been failed thus far in his young NFL career from a coaching perspective - Marrone is way over the hill - and I think a new scheme + new position + extra effort put in during the offseason is going to produce results. I'm optimistic.

He was from a small program that it was too easy for him to dominate the competition...

He was always going to need time to develop!
Hopefully it all begins to click for him.