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The New Orleans Saints made a maybe-controversial decision on Friday to re-sign left guard Andrus Peat to a five-year contract extension, keeping the two-time Pro Bowl alternate and 2015 first-round draft pick in the city where he’s played his entire NFL career. But retaining the versatile offensive lineman was hardly a sure thing for the Saints.
According to a report from Herbie Teope of The Kansas City Star, the Super Bowl LIV champions were interested in Peat’s services. If they had landed Peat, he would have replaced Stefen Wisniewski, who agreed to a free agent contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Peat is just 26 years old and has a lot of football left ahead of him — he obviously would have appealed to teams looking for upgrades along the offensive line.
Instead, he’ll remain with the Saints. Peat is the best option to both start at left guard and shift over to left tackle should Terron Armstead miss time, but that says more about the underwhelming options on the Saints’ roster and those available in free agency. While Peat might turn in good game film, too often he ends up on the ground, twisted around, or in the trainer’s room. He’ll need to play at a more consistent level to justify his heightened salary, but at least we know now the Saints weren’t just bidding against themselves.
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