Saints need to sign an offensive tackle with Terron Armstead out

Beating the Patriots by 15 points was fun but it came at a price, as the New Orleans Saints lost Terron Armstead to an injury in the first quarter. Armstead didn’t return after exiting the game with what has been reported as an elbow injury.

According to Ian Rapoport, “Armstead is believed to be out several weeks with an elbow injury that is not season-ending.” 

Obviously, the best-case scenario would be for Armstead to be able to return for Week 4 against the Giants, but missing a few weeks is a way better result than having to go on IR or miss the entirety of the season.

New Orleans Saints need to add another tackle.

With Armstead now on the sidelines for several weeks, James Hurst will step into the starting lineup as the left tackle. This is exactly why NOLA brought Hurst in, to replace Armstead should he go down with an injury.

It’s nearly impossible to replace what Armstead brings to the Saints’ offensive line but Hurst is a good backup. Even with him on board, however, the team needs to strongly consider signing another offensive tackle.

According to NFL Trade Rumors, the best tackles still available as of now are Mitchell Schwartz, Russell Okung, Rick Wagner, and Demar Dotson. Out of this group, only Okung is a left tackle with the other three playing right tackle.

The Saints are fortunate to have a dominant right tackle already in the form of Ryan Ramczyk, but they could either move him over to left tackle or sign one of these guys with the idea of putting them over there. This would be a move the Saints would make to ensure their offensive line is above average, giving Jameis Winston plenty of protection and creating run lanes for Alvin Kamara.

Hurst is a solid backup but you can never have too many offensive linemen. That’s why NOLA must add another tackle to the roster.