Quote:
Originally Posted by The Goat
Excellent post. If I understand you correctly Brown is basically being groomed to start at LT?
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I was more pointing out that the Saints have all of their OL salary invested in their two tackles. Brown was the guy who was hurt and couldn't play this year.
The interior of the line includes two guys on their rookie contract at guards, and a center on a very modest second contract who was picked up from the Jets and moved inside. He was signed as a backup actually, and New Orleans let both of their two other Centers (Bentley, then Faine) walk before handing the job to Goodwin in 2008. He appears to have been groomed by the team.
It's due to good drafting, primarily, that NO was able to play Bushrod at LT this year and still win the super bowl. He's not a different player than Stephon Heyer is for us. He would have been a complete disaster here forced into the same role. But the Saints were strong across the board at OL due to good recent drafting, and because they are getting Brown back next year (even though his contract situation starts to become an issue), they don't really have to "build" the lines, or try Carl Nicks at left tackle (and then play an inferior LG).
They treated Bushrod all year like an undrafted replacement player, the very same guy that the Redskins wouldn't have been caught dead playing in the Gibbs era, and won the super bowl with him, and not only that, let their offensive line lead them there.
We have salary locked up in the tackle position still, but it's mostly dead salary, especially if Samuels is indeed done. Restructuring that position so that the guaranteed $ there goes towards paying for future talent instead of past talent has to be priority #1.