Saints coach Sean Payton said recently that the team’s lack of a left tackle was keeping him up at night, so it’s no surprise that the team is looking to the draft as a potential way to fill the hole opened by the departure of Jermon Bushrod.
Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Oklahoma’s Lane Johnson will visit with the team on Tuesday. Johnson’s widely regarded as the third-best left tackle in the draft behind Luke Joeckel and Eric Fisher, which would seem to make him a good fit for what the Saints are looking for at present.
The snag is that Johnson isn’t likely to make it all the way to the 15th pick in the first round. The Saints could deal up, obviously, although they only have five picks this season after past deals and the second-round pick taken away from them as a result of the bounty punishments.
For a team that needs plenty of help for a defense in transition, that might be too high a price to pay even if a lack of protection on Drew Brees’ blind side is something interfering with Payton’s REM cycles.