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Genuineness, Maturity Big Reasons The Saints 'Fell In Love' With Their First-Round Pick
Taliese Fuaga didn't have to sell himself as something he wasn't during the draft process, and that's a big reason why the Saints fell in love with him.
The Saints draft room had a very loud, positive and noticeable reaction to the selection of Oregon State's Taliese Fuaga on Thursday night, and for a lot of good reasons. New Orleans got a player that they absolutely fell in love with at the Combine, and the run on quarterbacks certainly helped play into their hand. The team knew everything they needed about Fuaga from just a small interview.
Offensive tackle was a clear position of need for the Saints, as Allen called it a 'must', and it became the perfect pairing of best player available and need lining up. It wasn't tackle or else for New Orleans either. The Saints felt like the group of tackles were all very comparable in terms of their talent levels, and felt that there was a good chance that they'd have one or two available to pick at No. 14. There were some talks about moving back a spot or two before they got on the clock, but it simply didn't play out and they stood pat.
Fuaga will be playing tackle to start out for the Saints, and the team believes that he could play both left and right, but the decision of where he goes is something they won't make any time soon. There's not a big plan for him to play guard, but New Orleans believes he could play inside. The team has cross-trained plenty of their offensive linemen in the past, so it wouldn't be surprising to see Fuaga get some work or reps there.
One other thing that stood out from Dennis Allen's presser was how quickly he mentioned Fuaga as a culture fit, which is fairly important after some of the events that transpired last season. New Orleans wants players that want to be here and that will give the team what they got day in and day out.
Saints Draft, Day 1 Recap - Taliese Fuaga Is The Right Pick
"I think he was one of the more mature people we talked to," Allen said. "I think he's a grown man, and I think that's a good thing for that position."
"I fell in love with the personality." Allen mentioned that he felt a genuine personality and that Fuaga wasn't trying to sell him something, calling him a 'dude's dude'.
Fuaga was genuinely surprised that the he got the call from the Saints, mainly because they didn't have a lot of communication during the draft process. That's honestly a good thing, because that only reinforces New Orleans knew who the player was and what they were getting. Allen said that his play temperament was what stood out more on tape, and gave a nod to his decision of going to the Senior Bowl to compete despite knowing that he was a Top-15 player.
Taliese Fuaga is of Polynesian decent, which only makes up one-third of the United States population. His family was out in full force to celebrate draft night out in Hawaii, and he couldn't have made them more proud. Fuaga, Troy Fautanu and Laiatu Latu represented 15 percent of the Top-20 players selected on opening night. One of Fuaga's favorite players growing up was Seattle Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu, who was nicknamed 'The Polynesian Hammer'. New Orleans gets their own version of a hammer now on their offensive line, who will hopefully be a driving force of it for years to come.
