It's no secret the New Orleans Saints need to address guard this offseason. Ryan Smith of Pro Football Focus pinpointed each team's biggest weakness and debates if the draft or free agency is the best path to address it. Smith agrees the Saints' biggest need was guard and believes they should address that via free agency.
More specifically, Smith said that New Orleans should target former Buffalo Bills guard David Edwards. PFF gave him a grade of 70.3 in 2025, higher than both starting guards for the Saints this year (Cesar Ruiz 55.1, Dillion Radunz 48.5). Furthermore, he isn't an older veteran and will be just 29 at the start of next season. That would keep the average age of the Saints young.
Edwards would cost a lot of money. Currently, his annual salary is projected to be around $19.9 million, according to spotrac. That's 72% of the Saints' projected cap space. If he signs, he better be worth it, because the Saints won't have much money to spend elsewhere.
The Saints need a guard desperately but don't need to spend big on the position
With both Saints guards, Cesar Ruiz and Dillion Radunz, failing to earn a grade higher than 56 this year, it pushed the overall rankings of the offensive line down the drain. Despite rookie left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. being one of the best at his position and Tallese Fuaga holding his own, the unit was ranked 25th overall.
As second worst in the NFC (only the Arizona Cardinals had it worse), Smith was right on the money when he said that guard was the biggest position of need in New Orleans. However, he did go about it the expensive way.
Free agency is not the only way the Saints can improve their offensive line, as another way that guard could be addressed is in the draft. It's not a position that you'll see taken in the first round, but players like Emmanuel Pregnon, who earned All-American honors in 2025, could be around starting late on day two.