SmashMouth

Sometimes facts are born from assumptions that are repeated and repeated until they become common knowledge.

Sometimes those assumptions are correct. Sometimes they’re wrong. Sometimes they’re a little bit of both.

When discussing how the New Orleans Saints build their offensive line, it’s a little bit of both.

If you’ve followed the Saints at all over the past decade, you’ve probably been lead to believe that the team builds its offensive line from the inside out, starting with the guards and centers and working toward the tackles.

This, of course, would run counter to how most teams build their line. On almost every team in every city, the tackles are the top priority, then the guards and centers. People believe the Saints work counter to that because of quarterback Drew Brees’ height and the way he likes to climb the pocket.



The general idea is that, because of Brees’ height, he needs a cleaner pocket to be able to see the field. He also needs room to navigate because of the way he moves around the pocket. The level of priority is born from the fact that Carl Nicks, Jahri Evans and Ben Grubbs all used to collect sizable checks during their time in New Orleans while the tackles were usually cheaper.

The second point might be more of a coincidence than anything. It was the result of drafting and developing players who hit in the fourth and fifth rounds (Nicks and Evans), then the result of opportunity (Grubbs). The first point has more merit.

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