Saints GM Mickey Loomis shares a surprising detail about Andrus Peat’s free agency

Andrus Peat has been a staple for the New Orleans Saints’ offensive line for the last decade. After being drafted by the team in 2015, Peat would go on to start 102 games of the 111 that he played in over the last nine seasons. However, his run in New Orleans has now come to an end.

Peat signed with the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency this offseason, continuing his career that is reaching its 10th year. With Peat in Vegas, the Saints are moving forward with multiple veteran lineman they signed this offseason, as well as Taliese Fuaga, who the team drafted with the 14th-overall pick.

Considering the state of New Orleans’ offensive line entering the offseason, there was an argument that the Saints should try and re-sign Peat. Apparently, the organization sided with that argument. On Monday, general manager Mickey Loomis revealed that the team did try to bring Peat back.

Saints tried to re-sign Andrus Peat before he joined Raiders

From the outside looking in, it seemed like New Orleans was content with Peat moving on. After the veteran lineman officially became a free agent, there wasn’t much noise about other teams trying to sign him. Because of that, it seemed like the Saints could have re-signed Peat if they wanted to, since he was just sitting in free agency.

According to Loomis, that wasn’t the case. Loomis says the franchise wanted Peat back, but Peat was looking for a fresh start. He found that fresh start in Las Vegas with the Raiders. That’s an interesting development for New Orleans.

Typically, a fresh start is one way to say this team offered me more money, which could’ve been the case. It’s also possible that Peat generally wanted a fresh start. However, the fact that a veteran who has played his entire nine-year career with the Saints, decided to start over with another franchise, is also a bit concerning. Does that say anything about the state of the Saints, or is it just about Peat’s relationship with the team? Either way, Peat is no longer with the team, despite the fact that New Orleans wanted him back.

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