The New Orleans Saints offensive line has been through the ringer over the past few seasons, and it has not come out on top.
Pro Football Focus’ Zoltán Buday has released an updated ranking of each offensive line unit in the NFL every week this season and the Saints have consistently ranked in the bottom half of the league. Entering Week 17’s matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, they are sitting at No. 20. That is a drop of two spots from last week.
“The Saints’ offensive line had a disastrous outing in the team’s loss to the Packers. The unit allowed a league-high 26 pressures on 38 pass plays, leading to a, by far, league-worst 63.2 PFF pass-blocking efficiency rating. Right tackle Trevor Penning struggled mightily against Green Bay in Week 16. The former first-round pick allowed 12 pressures and surrendered a pressure at a 30.8 rate. Both were the worst marks in the NFL this week.”
Center Erik McCoy is the only player on the line that has been fantastic this year, but has struggled with injuries that have kept him off the field for a majority of it. Rookie left tackle Taliese Fuaga has been about as good as they could ask for from a first-year player in a new position.
Penning has shown flashes of improvement and does win a handful of his matchups, especially in the run game, but hasn’t done enough to be happy about the draft pick yet. Next year will be the close of his rookie contract and he needs to make a big jump.
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