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Feb 27, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; UCLA tight end Moliki Matavao (TE16) during the 2025 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tanner Pearson-Imagn Images Tanner Pearson-Imagn Images

UCLA's Moliki Matavao May Have to Elevate Saints' Alleged 'Busts'

Originally posted on UCLA Bruins on SI | By Brock Vierra | Last updated May 3, 2025 2:32 PM ET

Former UCLA tight end Moliki Matavao may be called upon early to lift a New Orleans Saints offense seemingly devoid of talent.

Matavao was one of several Saints selections in the 2025 NFL Draft, and their top two choices, Kelvin Banks Jr, and Tyler Shough, were listed by Sports Illustrated's Gilberto Manzano as two of his "five most likely busts in the NFC."

Banks is projected to be the Saints' new left tackle after the failed tenure of Trevor Penning and Shough will likely see significant playing time as the Saints' starting quarterback.

When left tackles can't block and quarterbacks can't throw, what happens? Teams run the football and then set up the play action pass to the tight end, to tight ends like Matavao. So, if Matavao is to see more targets as a result, how badly does Manzano believe Banks and Shough will be busts? Very.

"Usually, positional flexibility is a positive, but the Saints haven’t had success lately with knowing where to place players on their offensive line," Manzano wrote of Banks. "Trevor Penning, the 2022 first-round pick, has struggled playing at both tackle spots. Taliese Fuaga, last year’s first rounder, had somewhat of a disappointing rookie year after an impressive training camp.

"Now, there’s a possibility of Banks, the No. 9 pick, becoming the team’s third starting left tackle in as many years if the team moves Fuaga to the right side and make Penning the backup swing tackle. Banks could also start at left guard, but that would mean giving Penning another season to prove himself.

"Regardless of where Banks plays, new coach Kellen Moore needs to deliver better results on the offensive line. This franchise hasn’t gotten much right there, going back to the 2020 first-round selection of Cesar Ruiz, the inconsistent starting right guard.

"As for another concern, Banks’s ideal position might be guard, and if that’s the case, the Saints reached for him, with top-10 picks often reserved for tackles. With GM Mickey Loomis still around, it’s tough to think the Saints finally got it right with a first-round offensive lineman."

The Saints have already declined Penning's fifth-year option. If you think that was harsh, Manzano went in on Shough.

"The Saints might have put too much stock into how pro-ready Shough is after spending seven years in college," Manzano wrote. "Spending a second-round pick on Shough gives the Saints another potential Week 1 starter in case the team can’t find a resolution with Derek Carr.

"But this appears to be more of a 2025 fix and not a long-term answer at quarterback. Maybe Moore can get Shough to produce immediately to possibly make him a franchise quarterback, but the older rookie was praised by the draft experts for his high floor, not his ceiling.

"Jalen Milroe and Shedeur Sanders—two QBs available after the second round—offered more upside than Shough, who turns 26 in September. This is not to say Milroe or Sanders will one day be star signal-callers, because this was considered a down year for QB prospects.

"But New Orleans would have been better off using the No. 40 pick to add youth to an older defense and selecting a quarterback later in the draft. Perhaps the team didn’t want to wait that long after the poor results it saw from Spencer Rattler, last year’s fifth-round pick who struggled in the games he filled in for the injured Carr.

"If Shough, who dealt with multiple injuries in college, turns out to be more of a QB2, expect the Saints to look for a quarterback again next year. Maybe then they’ll stop messing around and actually draft a top-rated quarterback in the first round, which they haven’t done since 1971 when they took Archie Manning."

If Manzano is right, that may be a bit more than what is possible for the former Bruin to overcome, but if Matavao still finds a way to succeed, the financial blessing of a second contract should come his way.