Hosted Nick Easton (Olineman) from Vikings - Signed with Saints (1 Viewer)

As a former center, obviously it's the most important OL position!

Things obviously depend on scheme, play concept and defensive alignment but generally, the center will work with one of the guards for the 1 tech and the mike on run plays, zone or power. There will be occasions where the center needs to reach the 1 tech on zone plays so it's important for centers to be pretty mobile and good technically. Also, zone plays away from the 1 tech, the center needs to get to the 3 tech or the second level. What's very tough is power plays where the center gets no help, either because there's a 0 tech or other defensive alignment forcing the guards elsewhere. Having a center who can pull effectively opens up other options - not sure if I ever recall Unger pulling (not sure if Easton is good at this but certainly Minnesota last year pulled their center quite a bit).

Not sure if that helps. In short, the OL is so reliant on each individual player to work together that one guy consistently losing his matchups or not doing his job it will ruin it for the whole group. Why is the center important? Because if you want to run inside the tackles, the center is at the heart of the melee and if he can't do his job you get 1 tech's hitting RB's in the backfield or forcing him to stutter or re-direct.
It's very helpful. Plus it tells me that the Saints should be able to cover most of the negative aspects of his game schematically. Which means he should be a very good fit with what they do. Appreciate the insights.
 
Dude must have really leveraged his Sheena ties to get that kind of bread. Like the guard center versatility here. Him and Murray were solid for the Vikings t
hey both should be even better here.
 
I see some negative posts on the signing, here are my thoughts:
  • The only thing I'm worried about with him is injuries. I believe he is 100% healthy now
  • Online depth is going to be a plus. Tom should be able to fill in a few spots and push Easton through TC and his learning curve (Even though Easton is clear starter)
  • From what I hear his pass blocking is awesome. By comparison last year Unger gave up more pressures he ever had than his rookie year.
  • $$$/age, we actually got younger at the center position and saved money in the process. This will go a long way to signing someone else like Cook and could very likely be the reason why it seems to have taken a while to get something done.
  • This guy hasn't been coached by our oline. He's young enough to learn and our coaches are going to get him playing the way we want. Very excited at what he can become for us.
You can't look at this like we lost Unger in free agency and signed Easton to replace him. Unger retired, so we were left scrambling and got one of the best possible options while saving money which will help us with other signings.
 
I gotta know the guaranteed amounts before I can judge this. On the surface 6m yearly is concerning.
 
He started on that 2017 Vikings team. That oline was very underrated. Not saying he’s great but at least he started lol
 
I don't think this is the last time we address the Center position this off season.
We should go B.A.P. in the draft but if Erik McCoy is there for us in the 2nd round he most likely will be that B.A.P., unless someone falls. We'll have a good camp competition.
 
I really don't know Easton so I can't comment about him or his contract.

What this should be a learning experience. We have been very good with the draft. So good that we were not able to keep the players we drafted late last year. Our depth is that good.

And our depth is young also, what means we are paying talented players to perform at their rookie contracts. When the time comes, we will not be able to re-sign everyone. Even some of the players we don't consider as building blocks, will get attractive offers elsewhere.

We should be trying to re-sign our core players to a second contract well before time comes. That is the only way to get a discount.

And we should detect the positions where either veterans or not core players are either retired or leaving. We should prepare in advance on the draft to do so.

Regarding the Easton signing, I just wish we had one more year of Tom and Clapp to make a decision if they were capable to replace Unger.

So keep the draft picks, and if you don't think you have a roster space for the players you may pick, then trade the picks for the future.
 
Interesting that guaranteed money details haven’t come out that.

Usually that’s because “sources” come on the agent side and if the guaranteed money isn’t great, they won’t be as quick to report it.
 
They had their sight set on Easton well before the announcement of Unger's retirement which tells me they knew about it and were being proactive.

I don't know, w/o knowing the details it seems desperate to pay a person over their value. Looks like last season he signed a 1yr 2.9mil contract, so to me it seems like a kneejerk to throw all this $$ at him and make him the starter. OL depth, I could see. Anyways, only time will tell how well this will work out.
 
The only kneejerk I see here is from all the people who are passing judgement before even seeing him play. I trust the team with their OLine moves more than any other position and they've proven that over the years. I recall quite a few people were down on Warford when we signed him a couple of years back and he has been a great signing. I'll trust this will be a good signing and the Saints have done their research on the kid and knows how he'd fit.
 
I gotta know the guaranteed amounts before I can judge this. On the surface 6m yearly is concerning.

I need to know the structure of the contract and how well he plays before I can judge this. I mean, even if he is getting $6 million per year for 4 years, he could end up playing to that level. I checked last night and as of last year, a salary of $6 million for one year would only make him about the 14th highest paid starting Center in the NFL. So, if he can win the job and be an even average NFL Center, it's a solid deal. If he plays any better than that, it's Lagniappe.
 
The only kneejerk I see here is from all the people who are passing judgement before even seeing him play. I trust the team with their OLine moves more than any other position and they've proven that over the years. I recall quite a few people were down on Warford when we signed him a couple of years back and he has been a great signing. I'll trust this will be a good signing and the Saints have done their research on the kid and knows how he'd fit.

This times 100. Of all of the position groups, this might be the one that we have had the biggest success with in recent memory. That tells me they know what they are looking for & they found it.
 
I don't think this changes our draft priority.

Still need to draft an interior lineman to replace Peat next year if he doesn't perform up to his
potential and a offensive contributor in the passing game.
 

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