You bring up a good point here and one could make an argument that OT may be the most difficult position on the field to play with the way that defenses play and scheme nowdays. You cannot use your hands as much at tackle because they look for more holding around the edge of the tackle box.

So maybe Payton has the right idea ... there aren't many, if any, Anthony Munoz or Willie Roaf calibre OT's in the league now. It's better to have solid guys and continuity than to overpay for a guy who might not really be that much better than what we have.

I still wonder if someone like Max Starks could make the O-Line more solid?

Saints placed OT Alex Barron (knee) on injured reserve, ending his season.

A false-start or holding penalty waiting to happen in his years as a Rams starter, Barron had been sidelined by a left knee injury in camp. He wasn't viewed as a legit possibility to step in for the recently released Jon Stinchcomb.

Source: Howard Balzer on Twitter

Wow. Barron was a stud FA signing. Never made it on the field. Why exactly did we give him a contract?

Alex Barron put on IR
 

Saints put Alex Barron on injured reserve | ProFootballTalk

You know out of all the great moves Loomis did this off-season, this has to be the dumbest moves he made. Alex Barron was terrible for the Cowboys and for some reason we signed him to a contract. Waste of money and a roster spot.

I trust our coaches and I think the Oline is better than some folks are giving them credit... but then I'm a loyal fan since day one.

Yes I trust the coaches BUT I am not sold on Bushrod!

I think the most alarming trend that I saw developing last year, was the "invention" of this new thing where Drew tries to do a goofy Brett Favre style miracle "shovel pass" forward, right as he's being tackled with the ball. That's the type of play where something bad almost ALWAYS happens more often than something good. That one Drew threw in the second Falcons game was ugly ugly ugly. I would be interested to know more, about the X's and O's on that, to learn IF our situation at offensive tackle might have something to do with those kind of half-broken, almost idiotic "shuffle-pass" plays, which it seemed to me were suddenly happening on offense a bit more often last year, than I remember seeing them in previous years.

I wouldn't mind bringing him in