Canal Street Chronicles
The New Orleans Saints, led by first-year head coach Kellen Moore, faced the Jacksonville Jaguars and their first-year head coach Liam Coen on Sunday at Caesars Superdome, ending in a dramatic 17-17 draw. Here are three potential overreactions following Week 2 of the 2025 preseason:
Have the Saints hit the jackpot on a franchise tackle in back-to-back drafts?
While it’s still early, it looks like New Orleans has struck gold again by selecting first-round offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. out of Texas with the No. 9 overall pick.
Last year, the Saints drafted Taliese Fuaga out of Oregon State at No. 14 overall and moved him to left tackle for his rookie season, even though he primarily played right tackle in college. Fuaga exceeded expectations, and New Orleans was confident enough to move him back to right tackle, allowing Banks Jr. to step into his natural position as a rookie. It honestly couldn’t have worked out better for the Saints.
Through his first two preseason games, Banks Jr. has posted an impressive 88.1 pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus, allowing zero pressures on 23 pass protection snaps. He performed so well that he was taken out alongside some veteran starters early in Sunday’s game—indicating that the Saints were pleased with what they saw from him and already view him as a cornerstone of the offense and their franchise left tackle.
With the departures of former All-Pro tackles Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk, it really is remarkable how the Saints appear to have replaced them so quickly with what looks like another dominant tackle duo.
Saints edge rusher Chase Young praised Banks Jr., saying the 21-year-old tackle is patient and strong, with “really good hands.” He added that he’s going to get him “right” for his rookie season, so it’s cool to see Young already taking Banks Jr. under his wing.
The starting punter is not yet on the roster
While many position battles have been clarified throughout the preseason, one that hasn’t is the competition for the Saints’ starting punter between UDFAs James Burnip out of Alabama and Kai Kroeger out of South Carolina. To be straightforward, neither rookie has impressed so far.
One of Burnip’s punts only had 3.56 seconds of hang time, which is less than ideal and far from what we’ve seen from him in training camp. He had one punt land inside the 20-yard line and averaged 43.5 yards per punt on his two attempts.
Kroeger, on the other hand, averaged 49.5 yards per punt on his two attempts, with a long of 54, yet both were returned for a total of 15 yards.
In my opinion, it’s time for the Saints to look toward the free-agent market for a veteran punter, with options like Pat O’Donnell, most recently with the San Francisco 49ers, or Michael Palardy, most recently with the Arizona Cardinals, still available.
The Saints tackling woes will carry over into 2025
We saw a familiar sight on Sunday as New Orleans didn’t appear...
