Saints facing major questions at offensive tackle, but GM Mickey Loomis is optimistic

Trevor Penning and Ryan Ramczyk, two past first-round selections,

were the starting offensive tackles for the New Orleans Saints when the 2023 season got off.

Both of those athletes have a lot of unanswered questions as they approach the 2024 offseason.

After five unsatisfactory starts, the Saints benched Penning, and by the end of the season,

Penning was hardly able to play, even with multiple injuries to the offensive line for the Saints.

One of those injuries was to Ramczyk, who spent the season on injured reserve due to a knee problem that

had bothered him for years and raised concerns about whether he would have to retire early.

When Loomis spoke on both Wednesdays, he was cautiously optimistic.

“Any time you have a good player who is going through a tough thing health-wise, you’re always concerned And yet,

I have a positive feeling about where he’s going to end up and I think he does as well,” Loomis said of Ramczyk,

who still has three years left on the $96 million extension he signed in 2021.

Regarding Penning, Loomis acknowledged that the company “didn’t do him any favors.”

The 2022 No. 19 overall pick was sidelined for the majority of his rookie season due to a serious toe injury.

In Week 18, he sustained a Lisfranc injury that kept him out of the field for nearly the whole summer.

In retrospect, Loomis said the Saints most likely attempted to rush him into

the rotation given the amount of time he missed.

When it came to where he was and what he was prepared to accomplish,

Loomis stated, “I think a lot of that falls on us.”

“We all still have a lot of expectations for Trevor Penning,

but we also know that we need to do a better job of helping him grow and being ready.

We’ll probably do that during the off-season.

We’ll have a solid strategy for him, I believe.

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