Conversations around New Orleans Saints free agents circle around veterans Demario Davis and Cam Jordan and a young building block in Alontae Taylor. A name that hasn't been thrown around much but is very important is Luke Fortner.
Fortner has flown under the radar as far as free agency goes, but he's an important player for the Saints to retain. They made a preseason swap sending Khalen Saunders to Jacksonville in exchange for Fortner. The Saints clearly won that trade as Fortner started 10 games at center in 2025.
The Saints would bring Fortner in to backup Erik McCoy, as was the plan a year ago. That could ultimately work against New Orleans in negotiations. Fortner had a solid year and could flip that into a starting role elsewhere. That's something the Saints can't compete with. If that happens, losing Fortner could spell bad news for the Saints moving forward.
Erik McCoy's lack of availability should push the Saints to put a premium on Luke Fortner
It is difficult on the surface to say you should place a premium on a backup at any position. With a bit more digging, however, you'll realize Fortner isn't a regular backup. Until McCoy can show he can stay healthy consistently, backup center is going to be an extremely important position for the Saints.
A lot of things went wrong for the Saints in 2024, and a lot of those things can be related back to injuries on the offensive side of the ball. You could argue no absence was more impactful than McCoy, even with Derek Carr missing most of the season. McCoy's absence had a trickle down effect to the rest of the line. The struggles at guard were amplified without a talented player at center to mask them.
McCoy once again only played seven games this season, but the impact wasn't nearly as drastic. Fortner stepped in and kept the play from falling off a cliff at center. After watching what happened the season before, you see what life can be like without a reliable insurance plan behind McCoy.
McCoy is fantastic when he's on the field, but the doubts around his availability are warranted. Unfortunately, the latter will always outweigh the former. The Saints have to protect themselves in case McCoy makes it three years in a row of limited availability.