Andrus Peat is catching up.
After a slow start this summer, the New Orleans Saints' top draft pick had a good Thursday night in his preseason debut against the Baltimore Ravens.
Peat played 51 snaps -- more than any player on the offense. And after reviewing every one of them on tape, I was impressed.
Sure, he was facing the Ravens' backups (Peat played 30 snaps at right tackle with the second-string offense, then 21 snaps at left tackle with the third string). But it was easily the best Peat has looked so far this summer with the Saints -- and a testament to how he's handled early adversity.
Peat's footwork looked smooth. The 6-foot-7, 316-pounder flashed athleticism on a handful of zone blocks and blocks into the second level of the defense. And his conditioning didn't seem to be an issue, like it was as recently as last week when he ran out of gas at the end of New Orleans' scrimmage.
Peat was good in pass protection, too. He didn't allow a sack or a QB hit -- though there was at least one play and maybe two where he gave up a pressure that forced an incomplete pass. There was another handful of snaps in which he had to play catch-up against a speed rusher -- he had his hands full with undrafted rookie Brennen Beyer a few times, in particular. But Peat won more than he lost.
His most impressive block came when he got up the field quickly to take out a linebacker on a 10-yard run by Tim Hightower. Peat also had a nice cut block on an 11-yard sweep by Hightower. And Peat showed power on a third-and-1 conversion run.
"It felt great to be out there, just to get my feet wet, my first NFL game. I thought I did some good things tonight," said Peat, who was on the field for a total of six drives, which resulted in two touchdowns, two field goals, one missed field goal and one punt.
"I'd say [at first there was] a little bit of just calming my nerves and getting out there. But once I got out there, I felt pretty comfortable as the game went on," said Peat, who was drafted 13th overall out of Stanford.
"I'd definitely say I feel more confident getting that first game under my belt," Peat said. "I definitely want to build on it and look at the film with a critical eye and just try to get better to the next game."
I still don't think Peat will be in contention for a starting job anytime soon. Terron Armstead is entrenched at left tackle, and veteran Zach Strief will be awfully tough to unseat at right tackle.
The Saints have cross-trained Peat at guard in a handful of practice sessions, but so far it seems more like they're getting him ready for a super-backup role than they are considering a permanent position switch.
There's still plenty of time to change that, though -- especially if Peat keeps advancing as quickly as he did Thursday night.