Tag: Cesar Ruiz

Saints offensive line ranked 19th in the NFL

Brandon Thorn ranked the Saints as the 19th-best offensive line in the NFL. It’s a ranking that’s actually not as concerning as it sounds:

Establish The Run’s offensive line expert Brandon Thorn ranked the New Orleans Saints as the 19th best offensive line in the NFL heading into the season. That puts them below the average in terms of pure ranking among their peers. For this conversation, we’ll use Taliese Fuaga, Nick Saldiveri, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz and Trevor Penning as the starting lineup

That’s objectively not good. If the Saints walk out of 2024 with the 19th-best offensive line, the season likely wasn’t a success. Contextually, however,  the ranking shouldn’t be too concerning. 19th is an acceptable and almost favorable ranking heading into the season.

The phrasing, heading into the season, is the most important part of this conversation. McCoy and Ruiz are returning starters. Outside of those two, there are massive question marks on every other potential starter. Penning clearly wasn’t working at left tackle. Is flipping sides enough to rectify his issues or is he just not meant to play on the outside?

Fuaga is a rookie who is changing positions. He may be a first round pick, but changing sides can be difficult for any player. He has impressed thus far and there should be a hope that continues. Saldiveri is the hope at left guard. He didn’t take an offensive snap last year.

This is all best case scenario starting. Anything other than this will pose even more questions. Being barely below average would be a bad end point. With all the unknowns around the unit, it should be viewed as a starting point though. If Fuaga can deliver on his promise, the ceiling for this unit rises much more.

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Nick Saldiveri leads Saints’ left guard battle heading into training camp

Nick Saldiveri handled most first team reps at left guard and will look to cement his place in the starting lineup at Saints training camp:

The New Orleans Saints offensive line was arguably the position filled with the most uncertainty this offseason. Some clarity has been gained after minicamp and organized team activities, but there will be three battles fought along that unit in training camp.

Nick Saldiveri seems to be in the lead to start at left guard and complete the interior unit along with Erik McCoy and Cesar Ruiz, the only returning starters. New Orleans traded up to draft Saldiveri in the first pick of Day 3 of the 2023 draft. A year later, Andrus Peat and James Hurst are out of the picture leaving the starting left guard position vacant.

Walking out of minicamp, Saldiveri appeared to be first in line to fill that vacancy. In the second open OTA practice, he took all the first team reps. That continued until he exited with a hamstring or groin injury during minicamp that isn’t expected to sideline him through the summer. This points to him being in the lead in the battle.

Saldiveri will have to firmly clinch the starting role once pads are put on and preseason starts. He’s battling with Shane Lemieux, who he was originally splitting first team reps with. Oli Udoh will join the competition upon his return from an injury, and Lucas Patrick completes the group. The left guard position has a lot of contenders, and Nick Saldiveri stands at the top heading into training camp.

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Saints’ offensive line experiencing a youth movement in 2024

The New Orleans Saints new scheme prioritizes offensive line’s athleticism. This shift coincides with a drop in the unit’s average age:

The New Orleans Saints offensive line is going through a youth movement. By their scheme, it is necessary. Trevor Penning highlighted Klint Kubiak’s wide zone scheme for utilizing the athleticism of the offensive line. That change of direction has also coincided with the unit getting much younger. Not every change can be tied scheme, but it does feel like an intentional shift.

Erik McCoy and Cesar Ruiz are the only returning starters from last season. Trevor Penning is excluded because he spent most of the season on the bench. The offensive line’s average age drops from 28.2 to 24.6 years old. Even if Shane Lemieux starts at left guard ahead of Nick Saldiveri, the average age only rises to 25.2, which would still be a 3-year drop from last year’s average age.

James Hurst was the oldest player on the line last year, and he simply didn’t fit the new offensive scheme Kubiak is installing. He was the one player who needed to be replaced. New Orleans has always valued athleticism, so the pieces were already there. Of the new starters, first round pick Taliese Fuaga is the only one who wasn’t on the roster in 2023. His experience in a similar scheme, however, may provide one of the smoother transitions to Kubiak’s offense.

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Saints waive backup OL Tommy Kraemer despite thin depth chart

The Saints were already thin along the offensive line, but on Wednesday they opted to waive backup guard/tackle Tommy Kraemer:

What’s the move here? The New Orleans Saints were already thin along the offensive line, but on Wednesday they opted to waive backup blocker Tommy Kraemer, per ESPN’s Field Yates. It’s a bit of a surprise after Kraemer played an important role last season, backing up both Cesar Ruiz (at right guard) and Ryan Ramczyk (at right tackle).

But the team’s new coaching staff must feel differently about him, or at least see better options available in free agency. The Saints now have an open spot on the 90-man roster after waiving both Kraemer and quarterback Kellen Mond, so another addition should be on the way. We’ve identified some possible fits given their experience in Klint Kubiak’s system or other connections to the coaching staff.

Here’s the state of the offensive line after waiving Kraemer, with rookies’ names underlined for emphasis:

  • Tackle: Ryan Ramczyk (injury), Trevor Penning, Landon Young, Justin Herron, Taliese Fuaga, Josiah Ezirim
  • Guard: Cesar Ruiz, Nick Saldiveri, Oli Udoh, Shane Lemieux, Mark Evans II, Nouri Nouili, Kyle Hergel
  • Center: Erik McCoy, Since Haynesworth

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Saints have more Washington 2020 draft picks than the Commanders do

There are more players from Washington’s 2020 draft class in New Orleans than on the Commanders’ roster. But they outnumber the Saints’ own 2020 draft picks, too:

Don’t look now, but the New Orleans Saints have rostered more players from the Washington Commanders’ 2020 draft class than Washington themselves. There isn’t a single player that the Commanders picked in 2020 remaining in Washington. Two of them landed with the Saints this offseason: defensive end Chase Young (a first-round pick) and linebacker Khaleke Kudson (a fifth rounder). The Times-Picayune | Advocate’s Matthew Paras, a former Washington beat writer, first shared this observation.

But here’s the twist. There are more players from Washington’s 2020 draft class now suiting up for the Saints than New Orleans’ own 2020 draft haul. The Saints went into the 2020 draft talking up a quality-over-quantity approach, trading up three times and coming away with just four players: right guard Cesar Ruiz, linebacker Zack Baun, tight end Adam Trautman, and quarterback-turned-tight end Tommy Stevens.

That plan blew up in their face. The Saints cut Stevens early in the season after initially stashing him on their practice squad. They traded Trautman during the 2023 draft (to the Denver Broncos, reuniting him with Sean Payton). Baun left in free agency last month to sign a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. The only player remaining from that four-man band is Ruiz, who signed a contract extension last September.

So the Saints have two players from Washington’s 2020 draft class and just one of their own. That’s not the best of resources by either team. Regime change has already come for the Commanders (plus a change in ownership), and it might be on the way for New Orleans if the Saints miss the playoffs for the fourth year in a row and the third season with Dennis Allen as head coach. Hopefully they can turn things around, one way or another.

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Saints work towards salary cap compliance by restructuring Nathan Shepherd

The New Orleans Saints are continuing to work towards salary cap compliance by restructuring their contract with Nathan Shepherd:

Here’s your next New Orleans Saints salary cap maneuver: ESPN’s Field Yates reports that the team restructured their contract with defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd to save “just north of $3 (million)” following similar moves with quarterback Derek Carr and center Erik McCoy. Another restructure with right guard Cesar Ruiz is also in the works, per ESPN.

There’s just one thing: the math doesn’t check out for this to yield more than $3 million in savings. Shepherd was due $4.1 million in base salary with a $1 million signing bonus payout in 2024 prior to this restructure, which made for a $5.1 million cap hit. Lowering his salary to the minimum ($1.125 million) and converting the difference into a new signing bonus ($2.975 million paid out over five years for accounting purposes) would yield $2.23 million in savings, dropping his cap hit from $5.1 million to just $2.72 million.

So maybe that’s a typo or mistake from Yates. $2.23 million could be credibly described as “just north of” $2 million. We’ll see if Yates shares a clarification or if there’s something else going on here. Either way, whether it’s $2 million or $3 million, every dollar counts for the Saints. Few teams spend more than they do.

Shepherd’s base salary for 2024 was already guaranteed when he signed with the Saints last year, so he was going to get this money regardless. It’s just being paid out differently to better work around the salary cap. After restructuring their deals with Shepherd, Carr, and McCoy with Ruiz’s expected restructure factoring in, the Saints should be over the cap by about $33.2 million. That’s already $50 million less than where they started in offsesason projections.

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Next steps for the Saints after NFL sends 2024 salary cap to the moon

The NFL’s heightened 2024 salary cap brings a big boost for the Saints. They’re a couple of moves away from reaching cap compliance:

The NFL’s heightened 2024 salary cap brings a big boost for the New Orleans Saints. With the cap taking an unprecedented $30 million jump this offseason, the Saints are just a couple of moves away from reaching cap compliance — and then some. They’ll be able to clear enough room to make some noise in free agency and enter the bidding for talented veterans.

With the NFL announcing that this year’s salary cap is set at a record $255.4 million, the experts at Over The Cap estimate the Saints to be in the red by a little over $40 million. That’s less than half of the $83 million hole New Orleans sat in entering the offseason. But there’s more work to be done. Here’s how the Saints can clear their remaining negative cap space and open up more resources to take into free agency:

Report: Saints plan to restructure their contract with guard Cesar Ruiz

ESPN reports the New Orleans Saints plan to restructure their contract with right guard Cesar Ruiz, saving another chunk of salary cap resources:

More moves are coming for the New Orleans Saints as they continue to work to reach salary cap compliance — ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that the Saints plan to restructure their contract with right guard Cesar Ruiz, having already done so with quarterback Derek Carr and center Erik McCoy.

Ruiz signed a deal last summer that was primed for restructure: his extension included a league-minimum base salary in 2024 along with an $8 million roster bonus. In order to restructure his contract, the Saints are going to  have to convert that roster bonus into a signing bonus and pay it out over the four years remaining on Ruiz’s contract, which will save $6,580,000 against the cap this year. It’s a smart move since the money was already promised, it’s just being paid out in a way that makes life easier for the team’s accountants.

According to estimates from the experts at Over The Cap, the Saints were in the red by about $53.7 million after restructuring their contracts with Carr and McCoy. Adding Ruiz to the list will drop them down to approximately $47.2 million. Still a ways to go before reaching salary cap compliance (with more needed to sign veteran free agents), but already nearly half where they started the offseason, without cutting a single player. This has been the plan all along. We’ll have to see if the changes to the coaching staff can make enough improvements to justify it.

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Saints’ 10 worst offensive players in 2023, per PFF

These were the Saints’ 10 lowest-rated offensive players in 2023, per Pro Football Focus grading, including Cesar Ruiz and Trevor Penning:

The New Orleans Saints was out of sorts again in 2023, though they rallied late — managing to put some bandages over weaknesses and vulnerabilities at various position groups. But they must go into 2024 with a better plan for using the talent on this roster.

So where to start? The offensive line graded poorly across the board at Pro Football Focus, but here are the 10 players on offense (minimum 100 snaps) who received the lowest player grades from PFF:

Mickey Loomis previews ‘important offseason’ for Trevor Penning

Mickey Loomis previewed an ‘important offseason’ for Trevor Penning, suggesting changes are needed to help the left tackle succeed:

What can the New Orleans Saints do to help Trevor Penning? That’s a major question that general manager Mickey Loomis must grapple with in the days and weeks ahead, and he says the team has a responsibility to do right by the young player.

“It’s an important offseason for him,” Loomis told WWL Radio’s Jeff Nowak. “We’ve got to put him in a situation to be successful. We’ve got to help him with his development, his confidence. He’s got the ability to be a really good player in our league, but we’ve got to enable that by putting him in the right environment, giving the right development, and we’ll do that.”

We’re only reading the tea leaves here, but that doesn’t sound like a bright endorsement for offensive line coach Doug Marrone or his assistants Jahri Evans and Kevin Carberry. Evans is someone players like right guard Cesar Ruiz have pointed to as a positive influence, but the line as a whole has regressed since Marrone took over two seasons ago.

If Loomis doesn’t feel that Marrone (and either, or both, of his assistants) is the right coach to develop Penning and other young linemen the team has drafted, a change makes sense. That sure seems to be what he’s suggesting.

But it’s possible the Saints could look at moving Penning to a different — and hopefully more advantageous — position. Could he slide inside to guard? It’s not something he’s done much of before and his flaws might be highlighted there. Penning struggles with leverage and getting to his marks out in space, both of which stem from his choppy feet. For someone who is such a gifted athlete he doesn’t have a great efficiency of movement. Asking him to pull and block on the move more often isn’t something he’s suited to right now.

Of course that could change. At this point the Saints need to see something — anything — from Penning to justify what they paid to acquire him. Multiple picks in the top two rounds were spent on getting a player Loomis hoped could contribute right away. Obviously things haven’t gone as hoped or expected for Penning so far, but he has time to turn it around. Maybe moving to a new position or changing his position coach (changing the environment, as Loomis said) could help him come into his own in the NFL.

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