The New Orleans Saints are expecting a much better performance from their offensive line under new head coach Kellen Moore in 2025. One of the primary pieces to that offensive line is center Erik McCoy. Entering his seventh season, New Orleans traded up to select McCoy in Round 2 with the 48th overall choice in the 2018 NFL draft. He’s been a starter since his rookie year and has been one of the league’s most underrated interior offensive linemen.Pro Football Focus has come around to recognizing McCoy’s abilities. In an article this week for Pro Football Focus, analyst Mason Cameron ranked the top 32 NFL centers. Erik McCoy was fourth in the PFF rankings:

”An early-season groin injury that required surgery restricted McCoy’s ability to see the field much in 2024, but what we did see of him proved his career trajectory is still aimed upward. Although he logged just 293 snaps, McCoy was on his way to a career year, with his 94.4 PFF overall grade leading the position and his 0.24 PFF WAR ranking fifth among centers, even despite his significant missed time.”

McCoy’s value was on full display in his absence from the lineup last year. He suffered a groin injury on the third play of a Week 3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The injury knocked him out of that game and kept him sidelined the next seven weeks. In those eight games without McCoy, New Orleans averaged only 17 points, were unable to run the ball effectively, and were abysmal on interior pass protection.

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McCoy returned in Week 11. However, he played just three more games before reaggravating the injury and missing the last two games and most of a third. He was in the lineup for four full games and most of a fifth. In those five outings, the Saints averaged 31.8 points and had a 4-1 record. Without McCoy for 10 full games and the majority of two others, New Orleans had a 1-11 record and averaged just 14.9 points.

McCoy was the highest-ranked of all Saints players in this year’s PFF position rankings. The other New Orleans players that ranked in the PFF top-32:

The only three centers slotted ahead of McCoy on the PFF rankings were Zach Frazier of the Steelers in third, Baltimore’s Tyler Lindenbaum at second, and Creed Humphrey of the Chiefs in first.

McCoy, who turns 28 in August, will be a critical part of what the Saints do offensively in 2025. He’s not only a top-tier blocker for both the running game and in pass protection, but has elite awareness and makes the critical line calls and changes up front. His value was proven by his absence, but his return is now perhaps the biggest key to blocking improvement in New Orleans.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: PFF positional rankings: Saints center Erik McCoy ranks top-5