Left tackle Taliese Fuaga has been all New Orleans Saints envisioned during rookie season

On an occasion or two, an unsettled Taliese Fuaga has felt the need to make the call.

"That's rare," the Saints' rookie left tackle said. "If it's a real emergency. I try to figure things out myself, or just ask teammates. But if it's a big emergency, I'll call him."
"Him" is offensive line coach John Benton.

"If I can't sleep and it's just bugging my mind, like, 'What do I have on this play?'" Fuaga said. "If it's that bad, then I'll just call the coach.

"Maybe once, maybe twice. I don't think you're supposed to call him; they've got to sleep, too."

New Orleans, 5-11 entering Sunday's season finale against the Buccaneers (9-7) at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., hasn't had many restless nights regarding Fuaga since selecting him No. 14 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.

On Sunday he will open at left tackle for the 17^th time this season, after becoming the first Saints rookie to start the season opener at that position since Ryan Ramczyk in 2017.

Initially, the thought was that Fuaga, who played right tackle in college at Oregon State, would step in at right tackle for Ramczyk. But when Saints coaches flipped former left tackle Trevor Penning to right tackle, they did so with the confidence that Fuaga ably would handle the move to left tackle.

Nothing that has happened since has provided reason to shake that confidence.

"The most impressive thing was his start, just the way that he just handles the game," offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak said. "He's a quiet guy that works hard, doesn't say a lot – and just works.

"(He) asks a lot of questions, he's texting his offensive line coach late at night, asking questions about looks he saw on film. So the game is really important to him, and it's got to be important to you to be successful.

"I've been impressed with his approach; probably the way his mom and dad raised him. His overall mentality is what you want."