NFL veteran says Saints OT Taliese Fuaga is the best rookie lineman he's ever seen

New Orleans Saints center Erik McCoy says Taliese Fuaga is the best rookie OL he's seen

METAIRIE, LOUISIANA - MAY 28: Taliese Fuaga (75) of the New Orleans Saints attends OTA offseason workout at the New Orleans Saints Practice Facility on May 28, 2024 in Metaire, Louisiana. / (Photo by Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images)

The 2024 NFL draft class was arguably deepest at the offensive tackle positions. If you count Washington's Troy Fautanu as a tackle, then eight of them were selected in the first round alone.

After Notre Dame's Joe Alt (Chargers), Alabama's JC Latham (Titans) and Penn State's Olu Fashanu (Jets) came off the board, the fourth offensive tackle taken was Taliese Fuaga out of Oregon State, who went to the New Orleans Saints with the 14th overall pick in the draft.

Fuaga has a reputation as a run-shredding right tackle, and is perhaps the most violent blocker in the class of 2024. However, he's more than just a mindless mauler. According to some of his teammates, Fuaga's game is quite advanced for his level of experience. In fact, starting center Erik McCoy says Fuaga is the best rookie offensive linemen he's seen since arriving in the NFL.

Erik McCoy on Taliese Fuaga: “As long as I’ve been here, he’s the best rookie offensive lineman I’ve ever seen.”

— Matthew Paras (@Matthew_Paras) July 27, 2024

That's some pretty high praise, but it also makes sense that Fuaga's game is polished given how well he performed in college. Over the last three seasons with the Beavers, Pro Football Focus gave Fuaga overall grades of 85.6, 80.4 and an elite 88.2 for the 2023 campaign. You don't find that kind of consistency in an offensive lineman every day.

One potential hangup is the position change that Fuaga is having to go through for the Saints. In college he was exclusively a right tackle, but that spot is taken by Ryan Ramczyk. Instead, he'll be lining up on the other side at left tackle - a theme for several of the top OT prospects in this class.

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