Canal Street Chronicles
The New Orleans Saints made the boring, but right pick at No. 9, selecting Texas OT Kelvin Banks. They could’ve been flashy and taken a quarterback or one of the top tight ends, but instead, they bolstered their offensive line, which really needed to improve after multiple seasons of poor performance.
Many fans tune into preseason games to watch their flashy new rookie, or in the case of some teams, for the quarterback battle. For Saints fans, the latter has been the case. Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough are in the midst of a wildly competitive battle for the QB1 spot, so not much attention has been paid to Kelvin Banks, who has quietly been the Saints’ best OL during the first two preseason games.
In the Saints’ first preseason game against the Chargers, Banks played 20 snaps – 12 pass blocking and eight run blocking – and recorded an 84.9 pass blocking grade. He followed that up with an 84.3 pass blocking grade in 18 snaps against the Jaguars this past weekend. In 38 pass blocking snaps, he’s yet to allow a single pressure, QB hit or sack, and he leads the team with an 88.9 pass blocking grade. The next closest player is Trevor Penning, who posted an 83.3 in 20 snaps in week one and did not play in week two.
While Banks has been great in pass protection, his run blocking hasn’t been great. He’s earned a 46.9 and 55.5 grade in each of the first two preseason games, but outside of Taliese Fuaga, most of the offensive line has struggled in the run game.
I know it’s the preseason, but this is the type of performance you want to see from your first round rookie left tackle. Gone are the days of the Saints drafting project offensive linemen early. They’ve found what should be their franchise left and right tackle in back-to-back drafts, which should free them up to use premium draft capital on other positions in the near future.
