Canal Street Chronicles
Hurst recognizes that the OL “underperformed” in 2023.
After announcing his retirement on Wednesday, former New Orleans Saints offensive lineman James Hurst sat down with NOF.com to share his thoughts on retirement and the state of the New Orleans offensive line.
Even with many questions surrounding the future of the line, Hurst was confident about the unit’s talent heading in 2024.
“There’s a lot of momentum with how the season ended,” Hurst said. “(The offensive line) underperformed from every expectation for the start of the season… We ended the season very positively and that does a ton for the next season.”
Hurst later notes that the offensive line recognized their failures after multiple poor showings and understood that they “did not play well enough to help the team win the game.” The numbers agree with Hursts’ sentiment about starting poorly and ending strongly. Quarterback Derek Carr was sacked 19 times in the first eight games of the season and only 12 times in the final nine games.
Hurst also appears to have confidence in Carr and claims that his former OL teammates trust Carr’s abilities.
“We have a quarterback that we know is a player and that we know can get the job done and score points for us,” Hurst noted of Carr. “It’s no surprise to the offensive line that a ton of our offensive success will come from how the offensive line plays.”
Hurst has optimism for the younger members of the offensive line, including Trevor Penning and Nick Saldiveri. He notes that new offensive line coach John Benton could be huge for Penning specifically.
“Trevor is so physically talented,” Hurst added. “With a young guy that’s unproven - who knows what happens when he gets a new offensive line coach? Coach (Benton) might come in and say something that breaks it wide open for Trevor.”
Hurst played ten seasons in the NFL, four of which came as a Saint. His retirement came as a surprise to many but further emphasized the need to add offensive line talent in this year’s draft.
