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John DeShazier: Saints are intent on letting Andrus Peat settle in at left guard

John DeShazier
Senior Writer
NewOrleansSaints.com

In his first two NFL seasons, former first-round pick Andrus Peat spent time working at every offensive line positon except center.

Ponder that, and it’s easy to understand why the New Orleans Saints are intent on letting Peat settle in at left guard during this offseason and training camp, hopefully for the entirety of the upcoming season, even though left tackle Terron Armstead was injured during offseason workouts and Peat capably has shown that he can play left tackle at a high level.

“It’s been nice just to be able to focus on one spot and just really work my technique at that one position and try to get better each day, each practice,” Peat said Thursday.

“I’m happy to play at guard. If that’s where my coaches want me to play, I’m happy to play there.”

Peat, a left tackle at Stanford, was drafted No. 13 overall in 2015 with the intent of him playing right tackle for the Saints, a successor to Zach Strief. But after taking practice snaps there during training camp as a rookie, an injury to Armstead during the regular season forced Peat to flip sides of the line and start several games at left tackle.


When Armstead returned, and in an effort to get the best five linemen on the field, Peat slid inside to make several starts at left guard before starting at right tackle for an injured Strief in the next-to-last game of the season in ‘15.

Last year, the initial assignment for Peat was right guard as a potential replacement for Jahri Evans, who’d been released in the offseason. But the move didn’t work as well as hoped, so Peat shifted back to left guard – Evans eventually re-signed to play right guard before the regular season – and Peat started at left guard the first two games, only to kick out to left tackle after Armstead was injured.

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