Last time they were scouring the free agent market, the New Orleans Saints brought in a veteran guard who ended up playing more than most expected. Did Lucas Patrick do enough in that time to get brought back?
Lucas Patrick is an eight-year NFL veteran that started 10 games for the Saints last year. He ended up playing mostly left guard and a little bit of center. He was a fairly average player overall, but his play was also inconsistent.
To help understand his market, the contract/cap experts over at Spotrac have released a predicted contract for Patrick this offseason. They project him getting slightly more this offseason than he did a year ago, but that number is still at one-year, $1.96 million. Some notable players around the league that are making close to that much are Kyle Hinton of the Atlanta Falcons, and Greg Van Roten of the New York Giants. This is clearly a number meant for depth offensive linemen that aren’t meant to be starters
It would be a solid price point for New Orleans to bring him back at. He has proven he can be at least serviceable in a pinch and is about as good of a backup as one can hope to sign along the interior.
The Saints are going to need to re-tool their backup offensive line again this offseason, so starting with Patrick would be solid. They aren’t going to be in the market for an elite starting guard, so might as well start with someone that is familiar with the starters and quarterback.
