The New Orleans Saints' offense has undergone a significant revamp this past offseason, but the leader of their offensive line remains the same. Erik McCoy, who is still in his prime, is the team's starting center heading into 2026. However, the injury concerns remain.
It's unfortunate that whenever you discuss McCoy, you also have to talk about his recent injury history. But the fact remains that he has battled several injuries over the past couple of seasons. It's something that New Orleans has to hope changes, because McCoy is widely considered a top-10 center in the league when healthy. When not, he's still one of the best in the league, receiving votes for ESPN's top 10 interior O-lineman of 2025 list.
The injuries are also pretty recent, and they are a legitimate concern heading into the new season. In 2026, the Saints have to hope that he can have a healthy season for the first time in three years, because if McCoy goes down, the entire offense might fall with him. Without him, the offense is worse off. A team captain, he's one of the main reasons that it can even function in the first place. The team's situation also isn't helped by the lack of depth behind their Pro Bowl center.
The Saints have a lack of depth behind C Erik McCoy
When Erik McCoy went down last season, the Saints were lucky to have Luke Fortner step in. Not many players, especially ones that are a step behind learning their offense, would be able to dive in and keep it manageable. This year, they don't have that luxery.
Heading into the 2026 season, the Saints just have a lack of depth behind McCoy. There's second-year lineman Torricelli Simpkins, but he had an abysmal performance in his few appearances last year. He struggled so much, in fact, that his pass-blocking grade on Pro Football Focus was in the single digits.
The Saints just can't handle losing McCoy for over half a season like last year. Abilities on the field aside, his insane positive effect on the team by just being present is undeniable. Just look to 2024, when an offense that looked like it had the ability to win it all lost him partway through their week three game against the Philadelphia Eagles. and was never able to recover.
Quoting the late, great Buddy Diliberto, Hunt on Saints Hunt Palmer best described what the team is like without McCoy. "'When teams don't have their starting center, they never cover' It (the loss of a starting center) is a big deal," Palmer said on his latest show. "But maybe the point is to say that Erik McCoy's presence on this team, in the middle of that offensive line, is vital to their achieving whatever the ceiling is for this team."
A few weeks before training camp, it's difficult to guess what that ceiling might look like. However, if they have a healthy center, then all bets are off for how far the team could go.
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