This one pass protection rep by Taliese Fuaga on Chase Young in Saints practice made @RossJacksonNOLA and me gave us all the confidence in the world. pic.twitter.com/jyQrwWIskg
— John Hendrix (@JohnJHendrix) August 23, 2024
Taliese Fuaga has shown promise the entire offseason from minicamp to New Orleans Saints training camp. The rookie then carried that momentum to the preseason game with the Arizona Cardinals, a performance for which he earned the praise of NFL analyst Brian Baldinger.
Most impressively, Fuaga did all of this while flipping from right tackle to left tackle. A back injury briefly held him out of practice, but he’s returned and may have just put on his most confidence-inspiring block yet. He stonewalled Chase Young at Thursday’s practice.
Saints News Network’s John Hendrix described the play by saying, “That Polynesian Power that Brian Baldinger talked about was on display. He stonewalled Chase Young and then he had just one hand out on him and Young wasn’t moving.”
Training camp is full of back and forth battles. It’s not about winning the rep. Young has won his fair share of reps. Young has been a wrecking ball all through training camp. Fuaga got this one in dominant fashion. To win the rep so convincingly against one of the stars of training camp means something.
The Saints’ recent offensive line selections have been less than enthusing, to say the least, but it seems they’ve hit on Taliese Fuaga.