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The New Orleans Saints agreed to a three-year contract with tight end Nick Vannett on Wednesday evening. Despite the deafening noise that the lack of cap space would prevent the Saints from making any significant moves in free agency, they managed to surprised league observers like NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Vannett’s arrival signals a few changes could be coming for New Orleans’ offense. Of note, Vannett is a blocking-first tight end, a role he has excelled at and one that has kept him in the league for five seasons despite recording only 75 career receptions. While he fits the profile of big-bodied tight ends that Saints head coach Sean Payton routinely employs in his offense, Vannett’s skills project to more of a Josh Hill role rather than a Jared Cook-style downfield receiving threat.
An interesting detail about Vannett is on his resume: he was drafted out of Ohio State in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft, meaning he will join his former Buckeye teammates Michael Thomas and Marshon Lattimore (with Malcolm Jenkins helping round out the Buckeyes alumni). His arrival in New Orleans means that the Ohio State-New Orleans “pipeline” might be open for business after the team lost Vonn Bell, J.T. Barrett, Kurt Coleman, and Eli Apple in recent offseasons.
More importantly, taking a look back at Vannett’s time at Ohio State makes it easy to see what he brings to the franchise, especially if you take a look at how his old teammate Ezekiel Elliott performed. With Vannett leading the charge, Elliott was able to rack up 3,699 rushing yards in just 28 games for Ohio State, a testament to Vannett’s skills as a blocker. That helps explain how he appeals to NFL teams and how he’s stuck around the league so long despite modest receiving numbers.
If New Orleans does want to commit to a more imposing run game in 2021, then adding Vannett helps solidify an already very good run-blocking unit built around the Saints offensive line. Runners like Alvin Kamara, Latavius Murray and even Ty Montgomery (who had his second-ever 100-yard game last year) may see a bump in production.
However, with the departures of Jared Cook and Josh Hill, New Orleans is left with just Adam Trautman as a true receiving weapon. Trautman did not play a large pass-catching role in his rookie season, but he showed plenty of promise. He secured 15 receptions off of 16 targets, one of which was a touchdown and nine converted first downs.
Next season should see Trautman take on a larger workload, but the Saints could still add another tight end to help mitigate their losses either through free agency or the draft. As we’ve established, Vannett isn’t much of a receiver himself, but he is sure-handed with just one drop in his last 46 games.
So it wouldn’t be a shock if the Saints add one more tight end, at least to compete with their backups Garrett Griffin and Ethan Wolf. Some names to be on the lookout for are players like Trey Burton, who is a reliable receiver with something left in the tank, or a player like Jordan Reed who might have something to prove. Either way, the signing of Vannett should not be the last addition the Saints will make to help bolster the group this season.
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