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Analysis: New Orleans Saints will have numerous positions up for grabs

Any heavy lifting in free agency for the New Orleans Saints is long gone. All of the long hours preparing for the NFL draft has come and gone as well. The only thing left for the Saints after all of the cap crunching, savvy contract signings and draft wheeling and dealing is to have all of the position battles play out starting in organized team activities later this month.

Maybe it's just me, but the Saints seem to hold more question marks at more crucial spots on the field than in seasons past for Coach Sean Payton. Shifting to a 3-4 defensive scheme opens position battles in and of itself considering you're adding an inside linebacker, giving different responsibilities to outside linebackers and searching for a true nose tackle.

Here's a look at some of the position battles we'll be monitoring throughout the offseason:

Tackle (left, and right?)

Every player striving to start at left tackle should keep repeating one color to himself again and again and again this offseason: gray. It's the gloomy nothingness that exists atop the magnetic depth chart in the Saints' offices going into OTAs.

There's all kinds of bodies in place to compete for the left tackle job, and Payton can't wait to fill in the gray area with a name. He hopes it's an easy decision in that someone like Charles Brown, Jason Smith, Terron Armstead or even Marcel Jones plays so well making the decision a no-brainer.

At the same time, could right tackle be up for grabs as well? Someone more than likely would have to unseat Zach Strief as the starter. It wouldn't be an unprecedented scenario, though, as Strief knows all too well as he unseated his good friend Jon Stinchcomb two years ago. Smith and Jones would receive looks at right tackle rather than Armstead.

Linebacker (outside and inside)

Curtis Lofton is the only sure thing at linebacker.

It's not that the likes of outside linebackers Martez Wilson, Junior Galette and Victor Butler are in some major danger of being let go. It's more of a matter of how much playing time they receive. A starting job is Butler's to lose. So where does that fit Wilson and Galette? Both have shown glimpses of pass-rushing ability, but all three players can't play at the same time.

Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan said in a recent radio interview how Jonathan Vilma has been the talk of the weight room. He seems to be the front-runner for the second inside spot. But you restructured David Hawthorne's contract signifying he isn't going anywhere. Chris Chamberlain could also fight for time even though he's coming off a torn ACL and was brought in to play in Steve Spagnuolo's defense, not Ryan's defense.

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