New Orleans Saints Zach Strief is hoping to prove himself as a starter
 

New Orleans Saints offensive tackle Zach Strief is hoping to show the coaches he has the ability to be a starting lineman in the NFL as he fills in for the injured Jon Stinchcomb.

Video provided in the link below.

New Orleans Saints Zach Strief is hoping to prove himself as a starter - Video | NOLA.com

Saints' Strief appreciates the 'Is Eligible' jerseys

Bradley Handwerger / WWLTV.com Sports Writer

METAIRIE, La. – Zach Strief doesn’t pay attention to the referee anymore when he announced the “No. 64 is reporting eligible.”

The uniqueness has worn off and, quite frankly, he’d rather not hear it with the reason being that he’s a full-time player.

But that doesn’t mean listening to fans buy jerseys with “Is Eligible” as the name gets old.

It doesn’t and he appreciates it.

“It’s pretty cool,” Strief said. “It makes sense in this town the way people appreciate us. And I certainly appreciate it. It’s awesome to see it and have people call up and say, ‘I got your jersey with Is Eligible.’ It’s pretty cool and I think it’s pretty unique to New Orleans.”

Full article below.
Saints' Strief appreciates the 'Is Eligible' jerseys | wwltv.com New Orleans

I think he could start and we wouldn't miss a beat.

Good for him - too many of the divias in the NFL wopuld be pissed. I am glad to see he is not only gracious BUT thankful about it!!

I don't really get why any of it would be upsetting? Am I missing something important about reporting a lineman's eligibility as it relates to their reputation?
Or does it have something to do with this? New Orleans Saints offensive tackle Zach Strief blames himself for missed touchdown catch | NOLA.com

I believe that it means he has the possibility of being a receiver. He must report as a tackle that he is eligible to catch a pass. Often times it's just a distraction to the defense.

I know what being eligible is, I just don't know why it would bother him as a player, does it make him feel like a gimmick instead of an actual lineman?

Couldn't be any worse than Stinch, I agree.

I'm sorry but you are very wrong. We could do a whole lot worse than Stinchcomb, he is solid in pass pro and really good at getting to the second level in rhe run game. Him being injured for a big part of last year contributed a lot to the dropoff in our run game.

Yeah, it seems like there is a small contingent of the fanbase that likes to hate on "Stench-comb" but in all the game tape I have seen (which is most of it) he has been a very solid and effective lineman. He isn't a pro-bowl talent, but he gets the job done.

You can say he is the worst Saints O-lineman, but that is kind of like being the slowest Ferrari, just because everyone else DID go to the Pro Bowl and he didn't doesn't make him bad, it just means everyone else is amazing.

Yes, hopefully sometime he will earn a starting spot. But I am glad we make use of him as an eligible TE and not just in goalline situations. He does far more than other backup lineman on other teams who see virtually no playing time.

A lot of so called experts/analysts like to repeat what they read some one say about our tackles. If there is one thing this team showed this off season it's that if there is a weak spot they will aggressively try to upgrade. When is the last they brought in any one with even the smallest to replace one of our OTs?

Good. I don't want a guy happy being a backup...

...we've had enough of them over the last forty plus years...