This isn’t what you want to see. New Orleans Saints rookie left tackle Trevor Penning is expected to undergo surgery after a serious turf toe injury, which will take him out of action indefinitely. It’s leaving a big impact on the Saints offense and Penning’s career trajectory.
Penning was not expected to start right away after turning pro out of Northern Iowa. His technical flaws as a prospect were on display throughout the summer, and though he was showing some rapid improvement the Saints weren’t exactly pressured into starting him right away with James Hurst on top of the depth chart.
The bigger issue for Penning, now, is that he’ll be spending time in the trainer’s room receiving treatment during his rehab when he could instead be on the practice field every day working with his coaches Doug Marrone and Zack Strief. There’s now a hiccup in the plans New Orleans set out for him. Time was already precious considering Penning didn’t play the position until he got to college — his learning curve was steeper than most before you even get into the jump in quality of competition.
But New Orleans may have to shift its whole approach here. Their only options in-house are Hurst and journeyman backup Derrick Kelly, unless they flip Landon Young back to his college position after spending the summer training him at right tackle. They’re one injury to Hurst away from putting Kelly in a big spot protecting Jameis Winston’s blind side.
So a move would make sense here to at least improve the depth chart. It’s unclear whether a veteran free agent like Jason Peters or Eric Fisher would be interested in signing on as a backup behind Hurst, but those might be the best candidates the Saints can find right now. They could also consider trading for another player on the outs with their current team, like Alex Leatherwood (Las Vegas Raiders) or Teven Jenkins (Chicago Bears).
It’s far from ideal. But when you consider the attrition the Saints have dealt with along their offensive line in recent weeks, losing top backups to injured reserve like left tackles Ethan Greenidge and Jerald Hawkins, plus left guard Forrest Lamp, the issue gets compounded. It’s unfortunate all around. Let’s see how they respond.
