Saints Have Good History Drafting OT With Top Pick

The selection of Stanford Offensive Tackle Andrus Peat with the 13th overall pick in the draft left a lot of Saints fans scratching their heads last night. The teams needs were perceived as being greater at other positions for one.

Also, since no one really talked up Peat as a possible Saints pick before the draft he wasn’t very familiar.

After spending last night and today checking out his measurables, looking at some highlight reels and reading interviews of people who know him Saints fans are feeling a little more comfortable with the pick.

Andrus Peat is by all accounts a high character athlete with prototypical left tackle skills. This is the kind of pick fans can look back at a decade later and feel great about.

This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise though. The Saints over their history have drafted a lot of tackles in the first round over the years and they have always had good results with those picks.

If you need a reminder take a quick look at the tackles the Saints have taken with their top pick in the draft through the teams history.

Stan Brock, First Round Pick 1980

Stan Brock, Saints Left Tackle

The first offensive tackle the Saints took in the first round was Stan Brock in the 1980 draft.

He was never a pro bowler, but he was a solid Saints starter for the entire decade of the 80’s and part of the core group that gave the Saints their first ever winning season and playoff teams.

He played for the Saints from 1980-1992 before ending his career at San Diego.

Jim Dombrowski, First Round Pick 1986

Jim Dombrowski, Saints Lineman

Jim Finks was remembered for bringing the Saints to respectability behind Ricky Jackson and the dome patrol, but the first pick of the Jim Finks era was an offensive tackle.

Jim Dombrowski was a massive load grader type right tackle who played for 11 seasons from 1986-1996.

Paired with Stan Brock these bookends were the foundation of an offensive line that turned Dalton Hilliard and Reuben Mayes into stars and turned the Saints from Aints to winners.

Willie Roaf, First Round Pick 1993

Willie Roaf, Saints Hall of Fame

The Saints First Round draft choice of 1993 needs no introduction, but I like repeating this stuff so here goes: 11 time pro bowler, 6 time first team All Pro and 3 time second team All Pro, member of the NFL’s All Decade team of the 1990’s and 2000’s, All time Saints great and member of the 2012 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A very good draft pick.

Kyle Turley, First Round Pick 1998

Kyle turley, Saints

Saints fans never knew exactly what to make of Kyle Turley. He came to the team and got branded as a sort of oversized surfer dude by the local media, but one look at the long blonde hair, tattoos and piercing gaze and Saints fans thought of him as a Viking berzerker.

In retrospect the Viking berzerker rep might have been the right pick:

Turley paired with Willie Roaf to give the Saints the best set of booken tackles in franchise history. Before back injuries derailed his career he was a solid pro bowl level talent who led the way for one of the NFL’s top running games.

Jammal Brown, First Round Pick 2006

Jammal Brown, Saints Offensive Lineman

For Saints fans Jammal Brown is the forgotten man of the 2009 Superbowl team. Originally he was slated to be one of the key members of that team.

He was the first player drafted in the offseason Sean Payton and Drew Brees came to town and he looked like a truly great pickup.

He started every game from day one and in a nearly unique feat switched form collegiate right tackle to pro left tackle. He was a star of the team, making the pro bowl in his second and third season.

The Superbowl season that was so magical for everyone else on the Saints was a bad luck year for Brown. He was placed on injured reserve in September after failing to rehab from a hip injury.

His replacement, Jermon Bushrod, was capable enough that Brown was traded to Washington after the season. He never regained his pro bowl form but before suffering his career derailing hip injury he looked like the second coming of Willie Roaf.

Andrus Peat, First Round Pick 2015

Feb 20, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Stanford Cardinal offensive linemen Andrus Peat runs the 40 yard dash during the 2015 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The newest Saints first round tackle is Andrus Peat.

The Stanford product will come in and compete for one of the starting tackle spots from day one. He has a tough challenge, as he will have to displace long time starter Zack Strief or talented young starter Terron Armstead for one of those positions.

Well those are the Saints first round offensive tackles: Stan Brock, Jim Dombrowski, Willie Roaf, Kyle Turley, Jammal Brown and now Andrus Peat.

All of them were excellent pros who with the exception of Jammal Brown had long and illustrious careers with the Saints.

Andrus Peat, you are in good company here, and if you play to the level of the other men on this list Saints fans are going to be happy about this pick for a very long time……