Offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga made a smooth transition during the New Orleans Saints’ rookie season

He’s now nothing less than what New Orleans expected when they drafted him 14th overall^Th Overall selection.

During training camp, Saints defensive players praised Fuaga’s patience, skill and ability to correct mistakes and not repeat them.

“I think it’s just a confidence thing when you’re out there,” he said. “Obviously there’s a big difference from college to the NFL, but I think a lot of it just comes from confidence.”

“I think my confidence went up just being able to compete against guys like (Saints defensive end) Chase Young and Carl Granderson, especially Carl. He plays physical every day. You don’t have to ask him to go hard on practice.”

That will come in handy on Monday night against the Chiefs. Kansas City defensive tackle Chris Jones, a five-time All-Pro, leads the Chiefs with three sacks this season and has 29 sacks, 64 quarterback hits and 33 tackles for loss in his last 37 games.

“I think we have a game plan for him,” Fuaga said. “We already know where 95 (Jones’ number) is and wherever he goes, we need to have a plan for that.”

“He’s just a great player. No matter where he plays, we will have a plan for him.”

For Fuaga, it’s a chance to shine in his first Monday night game as a professional.

“Very excited,” he said. “It’s a blessing, but there’s definitely a big game ahead of us. Great guys on the D-line. There’s (defensive end George) Karlaftis and Mr. Jones. We just have to stick to the plan” and do our job out there.

ROSTER MOVES: The Saints on Friday waived receiver AT Perry, the team’s sixth-round pick last year, and signed center Connor McGovern to the active roster. Starting center Erik McCoy was placed on injured reserve after suffering a groin injury Sept. 22 against Philadelphia, and Shane Lemieux, who started Sunday against Atlanta, was unable to practice Thursday and Friday because of an ankle injury.

A fifth-round pick by Denver in 2016, McGovern has made 91 starts (78 under center) in 102 career games. He played every snap for the Jets in 2022 and last season he started all seven games he played at center for the Jets before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

PRACTICE REPORT: Besides Lemieux, Taysom Hill (ribs), Willie Gay Jr. (hand), Cesar Ruiz (knee), Payton Turner (knee) and Lucas Patrick (groin) did not practice Friday. Patrick was new on the injury report.

Limited participants included Demario Davis (hamstring), Fuaga (back/knee), Alvin Kamara (hip/ribs) and Bryan Bresee (ankle).