The New Orleans Saints hosted guard Nick Easton on a free agent visit, per a report from Field Yates of ESPN. Easton played for the Minnesota Vikings the last two years, starting games at center, left guard, and right guard. Before that, he was signed out of college by the Baltimore Ravens and later traded to the San Francisco 49ers. That’s when the Vikings signed him. He has some former teammates among the Saints including running back Latavius Murray.
Easton will turn 26-years old in June, and he has just 17 starts under his belt (having appeared 23 games total). The Saints struggled to keep starting left guard Andrus Peat healthy last season, and center Max Unger is in a contract year. They should be considering all options to reinforce the interior of their offensive line, even with some solid backups in place like Cameron Tom and Will Clapp. Easton would make sense as a low-cost signing to compete for one of those roster spots.
That said, Easton could also return to Minnesota. Yates’ report suggests he has interest from other teams including the Saints, and he did live this free agent visit without a contract. For now, it appears the Saints were simply doing their due diligence.
