The offensive line is a very interesting post for me to write simply because depending on how I choose to rate them, and at what time in the season, I could have them just below the secondary and linebackers on my ‘need’ list or right by QB (where they are). If you remember I am doing these in the opposite order of how much rage they caused me this season, in other words the last couple are potentially going to be a pg version of a ‘Kevin Held Rant’ (checkout the podcast if this one doesn’t make sense…Kevin is GLORIOUS when riled). The Saints offensive line was two parts disaster, two parts dominance, and one part startlingly average. Its the feast or famine nature of our line that led to many of our struggles throughout the year, and a number of the offenses most crushing mistakes came as a direct result of poor line play. It’s hard to pick out what made individual players so poor at times on the offensive line because an offensive line is the most interdependent unit in football and without knowing exact play calls and blocking assignments you can never truly know whose fault something was. It also can suffer from a particular weak point more than any other unit (with perhaps the exception of corner). The biggest reason I don’t have them lower on my list is that a big part of what I am trying to focus on is how the units will go forward into next season and beyond. The offensive line has some problems, but I believe that there is enough good left in it that its only a player (two at most) from being outright dominant. With that said let’s look at the players.
OFFENSIVE LINE:
Terron Armstead: If his first two seasons are going to be indicative of his career, going forward the Saints hit a home run in the third round pick out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Armstead possesses not only good size and tremendous athleticism for a man his size, but has demonstrated the kind rabid desire to improve that virtually every great player possesses. He was up and down at times this year, but he also faced a number of very talented pass rushers and more than held his own the vast majority of the time. For a player as young as he is to play as well as he has up to this point has to make the front office feel good about the left side of the line going forward. Armstead is a total package as a blocker who is currently a bit better of a run blocker (uses his tremendous feet to block down the field) than a pass blocker, but is more than competent all around. I hope that he again reaches out to Willie Roaf for advice and mentorship so that he can continue his rise up the list of elite left tackles in the league. Barring a major injury the Saints have a LT for the next decade.
Jahri Evans: The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Jahri is the phrase “he isn’t as good as he once was, but he can still be as good as he ever was”. Not sure I got that one right, but you get the idea. Jahri’s season was a microcosm of the Saints offensive line (and team as a whole) in that there were times where he was positively dominant, and yet others where he got pushed around like an old (and as it turns out hurt) man. He wins the award for ‘Saints who played all year hurt that we never knew about’, but there is definitely a noticable drop in raw ability from his earlier years. That is of course to be expected, but if he can come back healthy and as close to 100% as a player of his experience can be, then I think he can pull out at least another 2-3 years as a legit starting guard in the league. It is my personal belief that at times he struggled due to injury, at times it was due to the degradation of his raw physical talents due to age, and at times he struggled because of issues at Center.
Jonathan Goodwin: Goody is one of a very short list of players I genuinely feel for after this year. If he had been able to play this whole year healthy I’m not sure this season doesn’t go very differently. However I am quite familiar with a certain expression involving my hands and wishing (hint: one gets the wishes), so unfortunately for Goodwin I have to look at what was. Not what could have been. There were times this year where he looked every bit the player he was in ’09 and was flat out schooling his man, but they were few and far between for the most part. Goodwin was rarely bad, but as the year progressed and the injuries began to mount the moments of dominance became more and more fleeting. Worse was the fact that in many games he failed to make any kind of positive impact in key situations late in games (again in large part due to injury). There were times where he was absolutely destroyed by his man, and to my admittedly inexpert eye his struggles affected both of the teams guards down the stretch. Goodwin was still aggressive and extremely technically sound in the run game, but it was his pass blocking which was so poor that makes me wish him the best of luck. I simply can’t imagine any situation where the team welcomes him back (at least not as a player), but the one reason I won’t demand he be given the proverbial boot is that he is absolutely invaluable in the locker-room. On a young team without a ton of strong leadership his diligent professionalism (something that he absolutely embodies) is incredibly valuable. My ideal scenario is that Goody retires for his own good and the teams, but stays in New Orleans as a member of the staff to help coach and develop the young linemen. It’s something I believe he is well suited for and would make him an asset to the organization for a very long time.
Zach Strief: I seem to have fallen into a pattern of ‘good then bad’, so Strief is up next. If you have any questions about his professionalism and work ethic just read back over what I said about Goodwin and extend it over YEARS spent in the organization. The only thing I really want to see from Zach going into next year is a little bit more of a vocal approach. I am going to preface that with the fact that I have never been in the locker room and don’t know any of them personally, so this is an assumption based on all of the reports and interviews I have seen over the season. Strief is unquestionably one of the team’s leaders, but he is more of a quiet leader who leads by example…I am asking him to crack a couple heads if need be (or shave a beard if you catch my drift). As far as on the field is concerned I would honestly probably put Strief up as the teams most consistent player on the line. Rarely spectacular or dominant, but also rarely beat and hardly ever (I don’t personally recall one) wrecked which no other lineman could say. He is definitley an older guy, but you can’t fix the whole line in one year. Strief stays for a couple more years barring injury and I believe will make sure that his eventual replacement has to earn the job.
Ben Grubbs: Ben to me is the easiest guy to grade out. I had him as my second worst starter behind Goodwin, but without the string of injuries to explain it. Part of Grubbs failing in my eyes is that the shoes he was brought in to fill were too big for him. Nicks was a mauler who was both physically dominant and in possession of the kind of ‘mean streak’ you want on your line. I have never seen evidence of either from Grubbs; that is in large part due to the fact that he is a different kind of lineman. I would categorize Grubbs as a ‘technician’, that isn’t to say he isn’t a great athlete by any means, just that his best attribute is his skill. Grubbs is not a dominant player, just a very good one (teams are built on those so that is NOT a knock on him at all), but because the Saints need at minimum consistency I don’t see him coming back. The term that best describes many of his biggest flubbs throughout the year is ‘bulldozed’. Grubbs got flat out knocked on his butt far too often, and when that is considered alongside his cap hit its hard to see him coming back.
Tim Lelito: He was in and out of the line-up as the primary back up to Jonathan Goodwin and I don’t think it is a coincidence that the Saints were 4-0 with him starting. I am not going to bill him as the next great center or anything like that, but he demonstrated stability, good technique (with room to improve), and the physical tools that come only with youth. Lelito possesses some positional versatility as he has backed up both the Center and Guard positions with decent results at both (getting mauled by AZ happens to LOTS of players). I hope that Lelito continues to put in good effort and works on perfecting his technique and improving over the offseason. The Saints would love to have a cheap and effective player to plug in at Center next year. I believe that what he put on film in ’14 should be enough to secure him the starting center job going forward, and his ability combined with his experience in the system should allow him to experience great success.
Senio Kelemete: He is a 6’3″ 300 pound ball of potential. Our senior correspondent Andrew Juge covered last year’s training camp and Kelemete’s name came up quite often (hehehe I called him a senior). The coaching staff rotated him in sparingly, but I have a hunch they have seen a lot to love in the 24 year old out of Washington and could very well gamble on his potential making him the starting left guard as early as next year. That is ENTIRELY conjecture at this point, but if you look at the Saints track record with UDFA’s and low round picks most of their success has come at the running back and offensive line positions. It wouldn’t surprise me (or many other Saints fans) to find out that coach Payton and crew have once again uncovered a diamond in the ruff.
Bryce Harris: Disaster, can’t play at this level, cut him. That clean cut enough? I don’t mean any offense to him personally, but to play the edges you need balance and foot speed he simply doesn’t have and I don’t see him ever developing it. I am nearly 100% sure that he will not be on next years roster and the units grade will reflect that…if he is…it drops. I wish him success and good fortune in life and the continuing of his career, but not in New Orleans (pssttt Bryce…go to ATL 😉 )
Position groups grade overall: B- (think an 81% here, but it could become an A potentially next year… we will see)
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