The New Orleans Saints are off and running in the 2024 preseason, picking up a 16-14 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night. The game ended with rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler leading a two-minute drive, setting up fellow rookie Charlie Smyth to make the game-winning field goal. A great ending to a stereotypically rocky preseason game.

While winning is always great, it’s still just the preseason, so the outcome isn’t really what matters. Instead, it’s the individual performances of players that everyone pay attention to. The Saints saw all different level of performances on Saturday, but there was one player that really had fans concerned: Trevor Penning.

New Orleans’ starting offensive unit played just a few series, but starting tackles Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning played the majority of the first half. During that time, it was clear Penning is very much still a work in progress.

Starting at right tackle, Penning had quite a few plays were he struggled. He was beat with a quick move to the inside, beat with power, and was even called for holding once. To make matters worse, the Cardinals didn’t play their starters, so the third-year tackle struggled with backups.

As the game unfolded, fans were quick to argue New Orleans may not be able to overcome a struggling Penning during the regular season. Everything starts with the offensive line in football; if the Saints can’t protect the passer or run block, they won’t be able to accomplish anything.

Of course, it’s still early, and everyone is hoping Penning can develop in time for the season, but it’s reasonable to expect Penning is who he is. With that understood, New Orleans will either need to find an alternative at right tackle, or live with the consequences of hitching the team’s success to the development of Trevor Penning.