Saints Bring In Two Players
By John Hendrix
The New Orleans Saints have announced two official transactions for today. The team has signed offensive lineman Manase Foketi and defensive tackle Moses McCray.
Foketi, who turns 24 in September, is officially listed as a guard on most sites you check, but played the majority of his time as a left tackle in college. Foketi is 6’5″ and weighs in at 320 pounds. Foketi spent the early years of college at Kansas State, but due to some fallout from the two parties after a transfer request, Foketi ended up at West Texas A&M (see Khiry Robinson). His NFL Combine profile compared to Jermon Bushrod, who Saints fans are quite familiar with. Foketi went undrafted in 2013, and would join the Denver Broncos, but not survive training camp. Foketi would eventually find a home on the Buffalo Bills practice squad.
McCray, who just turned 24 in January, has had a very interesting road to get to the NFL. In 2012, Florida State said Mcray was ‘One of the most physically talented interior defensive linemen in the program, but has been limited while battling injuries.’ McCray spent four seasons with Florida State (one season as a red shirt freshman), and then transferred to Akron, where he played out his fifth-year.
In an interview with the Beacon Journal, McCray explained why he transferred:
"I had a lot of injuries at Florida State and at schools like that, once you have a lot of injuries, they bring in other guys and you sink to the bottom of the depth chart. So my four years were coming to an end, and I guess they didn’t have any more scholarships. I started looking for a job, and I thought I was pretty much done with football, so one day [Zips defensive line] coach [Todd] Stroud called me up and said: “Hey buddy, I heard you were still trying to play.” I said “Yes.” I thought I lost my love for the game, but once I got here they made me feel like family and made it feel like home. Everything just started sparking again. I found out I was healthy. Got my physical and now I’m back rolling again."
Immediate impacts for these two players are extremely unclear, but I’m sure these two are just happy to get a call to show what they can bring to the table. As per NOLA.com’s Larry Holder, the Saints are now at 87 players on the roster. The team is allowed to go as high as 90.
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