New Orleans Saints fans unhappy with the sorry state of their offensive line won't like this news. Head coach Kellen Moore confirmed the previously-reported firing of run game coordinator T.J. Paganetti
. What's interesting is how Moore downplayed the role Paganetti had on staff while emphasizing this will put more responsibility on offensive line coach Brendan Nugent than he was already shouldering."We felt this was going to be beneficial to the work flow of our staff," Moore said during his Monday press conference. "(Brendan Nugent) will lead the run game as far as the structure during the week, the rest of the staff will be parts of those conversations."
When asked specifically what will be done differently now that Paganetti has been taken
out of the equation, Moore's answer suggests the Saints won't be changing their operation much, if at all. It'll be the same people scripting the run game and leading meetings with players: "There's elements of what we do from a presentation standpoint, there's the back end of putting together the game plans. (Nugent) has done installations as far as in front of the team, that'll remain consistent, there will be other changes as we go. This is just maximizing our workflow."
Nugent has already been installing the run plan each week and taking point on how the Saints will try to run the ball, so it reads like Paganetti is the scapegoat for that plan not working out. Despite having worn a big title as a coordinator, in reality Paganetti seems to have been more of an advisor offering input without being given a hands-on role. Running backs coach Joel Thomas will remain a voice in the room, but now we'll be seeing an even more trimmed-down vision for the run game from Nugent's perspective.
And that's troubling. In five years as an offensive line coach, Nugent has never contributed to a rushing attack that ranked better than 27th. Moore has ranked above 18th just three times in eight years as a play caller, with four finishes at 27th or lower. Neither of them have real bona fides as established run designers. When Paganetti was working with the Eagles run game and offensive line from 2017 to 2024, they ranked 11th or better seven times. Instead of leaning on Paganetti's experience, Moore is giving a coach who looks out of his depth even more responsibility. It's a bold strategy. Let's see if it pays off for them.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Kellen Moore says Saints will ask more of OL coach Brendan Nugent
