The New Orleans Saints spent the offseason reshaping their offense, but one of the most important pieces stayed right where it was. Erik McCoy is still the anchor at center, still in his prime, and still the player the Saints need most to hold up.
That’s the catch, though. With McCoy, the conversation never stops at talent.
It has to include the injuries, because they’ve piled up over the last couple of seasons. New Orleans is banking on a healthier run in 2026, and it’s not hard to see why: when McCoy is right, he’s widely viewed as a top-10 center in the league.
Even when he’s been banged up, he still drew votes for ESPN’s top 10 interior O-lineman of 2025 list.
The problem is how recent all of this is. The Saints are heading into the new season hoping McCoy can get through a full year healthy for the first time in three seasons.
If he can’t, the ripple effect could be brutal. He’s not just a Pro Bowl center and a team captain; he’s one of the reasons the offense can function at all.
And there isn’t much behind him if something goes wrong.
That depth issue is a real problem. Last season, when McCoy went down, Luke Fortner was able to step in and keep things afloat. That kind of backup stability isn’t something New Orleans can count on now.
The current options are thin. Second-year lineman Torricelli Simpkins is in the mix, but his limited action last year was rough. His pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus was in the single digits, which tells you everything you need to know about how that went.
New Orleans also can’t afford another long stretch without McCoy. The Saints saw in 2024 how much his absence can change the entire shape of an offense. That team went into its Week 3 game against the Philadelphia Eagles looking like it had real upside, then lost McCoy partway through and never got back on track.
Hunt on Saints Hunt Palmer put it plainly, borrowing from the late Buddy Diliberto: "'When teams don't have their starting center, they never cover' It (the loss of a starting center) is a big deal," Palmer said on his latest show. "But maybe the point is to say that Erik McCoy's presence on this team, in the middle of that offensive line, is vital to their achieving whatever the ceiling is for this team."
With training camp still a few weeks away, the Saints’ ceiling is hard to pin down. But one thing is clear: if McCoy stays healthy, the conversation around this offense changes fast.
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Alvin Kamaras Saints Future Just Took A Surprising Turn
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The deal also reflects a changing backfield picture, with Travis Etienne expected to handle a larger workload and more of the between-the-tackles work Kamara once carried. For Kamara, it creates a path to stay with the Saints and still boost his earnings through incentives, but it also signals a new phase in how the team plans to use one of its most recognizable players. [Read more 🡒]