Saints: 3 offensive tackles to sign to fill in for Terron Armstead
By Kristen Wong
1. Mitchell Schwartz
Mitchell Schwartz may not have been good enough to protect Patrick Mahomes, but he’ll do just fine with Jameis Winston. That’s a joke. Kind of.
The offensive tackle was released by the Kansas City Chiefs after appearing in only six games in 2020. He recently underwent back surgery in February of 2021, but his physical health shouldn’t be of any concern.
Schwartz recently told the Arrowhead Addict podcast that he’s almost “100 percent fully ready to go” and believes he has a few tackling years left in him.
In any case, he wants to finish his career on his own terms, and even though the Chiefs don’t want him back, he’s clearly still looking for a starting spot on an NFL team.
Once touted as the best right tackle in the league, Schwartz often made Mahomes look even better than he was. When the Chiefs lost their chance at winning a second-straight Super Bowl last season, a huge part of that was due to Schwartz’s season-ending back injury in October.
He’s since been taking his time to recover, but he should look no further than New Orleans to find a potential retirement home.
Schwartz plays right tackle, so the Saints could consider shifting Ramczyk to the left to make way for one of the most durable and dependable offensive linemen in the league. Prior to his back injury, Schwartz started in every regular season from 2012 to 2019 and earned First-Team All-Pro honors in 2018.
Still, Schwartz is 32 and just coming back from injury, so there’s a chance he could be a shell of the dominant tackle he used to be. If New Orleans’ offensive line coaches can teach this veteran new tricks and get him to quickly adapt to the Saints’ system, though, he would be worth it.