When the New Orleans Saints chose to stay put at No. 24 and select Michigan Wolverines center Cesar Ruiz in the first round of this year’s NFL draft, they didn’t do so with a vision in mind of him sitting on the bench. He’s here to compete for a starting job.
Saints coach Sean Payton made that clear in a conference call with local media after the first round concluded, saying of his team’s top picks in the last two draft classes: “We have some flexibility and I think the obvious question would be, ‘hey, he’s a center, you had a center last year.’
“Obviously we think one of them is going to be a guard because we weren’t drafting someone that high to come in and be a backup.”
Last year, the Saints traded up in the second round to land Texas A&M prospect Erik McCoy. Like Ruiz, center is his natural position — they’ve each played it since high school, starting multiple seasons at the college level before entering the NFL. Both McCoy and Ruiz have also started games at guard, too. Now it’s up to the Saints to decide who fits where.
That might leave Larry Warford out in the cold. The three-time Pro Bowl right guard fell off a bit last season, and his contract status might make him an attractive trade option for the Saints now that Ruiz is in the fold, as opposed to left guard Andrus Peat, who is tied to the team through at least 2022.
When asked what Ruiz’s arrival means for Warford, Payton didn’t mince any words: the 29-year-old will have to earn his right to get on the field just like anyone else, no matter how many all-star games he’s been named to before.
“Every one of these guys is going to come in and compete,” Payton said, “and so Larry’s going to have to compete, and we feel like we will go into training camp and that’s how you improve your team.”
If Warford can’t prove he’s a better option to run with the starting lineup than Ruiz or McCoy, he’d be quite an expensive backup. His salary cap hit is the second-highest on the team behind Drew Brees, approaching nearly $13 million. If the Saints cut or trade him, they would free up more than $7 million in space beneath the salary cap. It’s something to monitor as the offseason marches on.
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