Waterboy and wide zone schemes: Everything Taliese Fuaga said about Saints drafting

The New Orleans Saints selected offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga with the 14th-overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, addressing the team’s biggest need. Fuaga now has the chance to come in and be an immediate impact player for New Orleans as a rookie. He took time to speak with the media after hearing his name called on Saturday.

Fuaga revealed that he was surprised to be selected by the Saints, only because the franchise didn’t spend much time with him during the pre-draft process. However, that’s because the Saints already knew everything they needed to know about Fuaga. What they know is that Fuaga is a perfect fit for the franchise.

Speaking with the media about the offensive scheme that New Orleans will be running this year, a wide zone scheme brought to the team by new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Fuaga explained that he’s incredibly comfortable with the scheme, having played in the same scheme in college at Oregon State. That should help his transition to the NFL.

Taliese Fuaga is already comfortable with Saints’ offensive scheme

As for how Fuaga will operate in that scheme, only one word is needed to paint the picture: nasty. Fuaga explained to the media that he worked on being a nasty lineman, saying his preparation to do so was a lot like The Waterboy. While he isn’t a linebacker, there’s certainly a lot of Bobby Boucher in his film.

Taliese Fuaga is everything you want in a lineman. He moves bodies and finishes plays in the run game, but is also just as good moving backwards in pass protection. With Fuaga and Kubiak bringing the wide zone scheme to the Saints, Alvin Kamara and the run game should be much more productive next season. All in all, Taliese Fuaga is a player that should help elevate the offense, which will lead to more games won for the Saints.

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