It wasn’t too long ago that the New Orleans Saints offensive line was winning some confidence from their fans. They had gotten off to a hot start and Pro Bowl center Erik McCoy looked like their best player up front. Then he suffered a groin injury that sent him into surgery, and now he’s looking at a month or more of recovery on injured reserve.
Next man up. That was Lucas Patrick, who filled in for McCoy against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Saints brought up Shane Lemieux from their practice squad for the next game, but he suffered an ankle injury and won’t play on Monday night versus the Kansas City Chiefs. Next man up again, right? That would be Patrick. But he missed the last two days of practice with a groin injury of his own and is questionable to play at all.
At some point you run out of options and get to the end of the line. That’s why the Saints signed Connor McGovern off the New York Jets practice squad, and he has a real shot at starting in Kansas City. With McCoy and Lemieux out of action and Patrick questionable, McGovern would probably be that next man up.
At least he has experience. McGovern has snapped the ball himself 4,925 times and mostly played in similar offenses to Klint Kubiak’s system. He could be a capable replacement at the pivot even if he was only in New Orleans a few days before flying out to Kansas City. Still, it’s concerning that Derek Carr would have to take the snap from another new set of hands. Especially with five-time All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones watching and waiting to charge at him.
