Dennis Allen On Improving Practice, Jon Gruden Visit, Free Agency
Dennis Allen spoke with the media following Saints practice No. 4 for the team on Tuesday as they begin another week of OTAs. Two of the main takeaways from his presser was how the team would try to improve practice and some insight on bringing in Jon Gruden to help with Derek Carr.
"I felt like we practiced like a team that's been off for four days," Allen said. "So, there's a lot of things that we got to get cleaned up, but we'll have another opportunity to get out here tomorrow and clean some things up and get better."
SAINTS OTAS: PRACTICE NOTES, TAKEAWAYS, OBSERVATIONS
Allen said the areas of improvements aren't anything insane, and had nothing to do with effort.
"I think the ball was on the ground more today than it had been in the previous three practices. It had zero to do with effort. I think our guys are out here working hard. I just don't feel like the execution was quite where it needed to be. Look, we're in a race to improve versus 31 other teams. You don't want to see any of these opportunities slide by. So, we'll have an opportunity to watch tape, make the corrections, and I know our guys will respond tomorrow."
ON COMING TOGETHER WITH JON GRUDEN
Sep 21, 2020; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden with quarterback Derek Carr (4) before a NFL game against the New Orleans Saints at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
"Look, I mean, number one, we've had several coaches come and visit. Obviously, Jon's a guy that has a lot of experience with Derek and Derek's had his most success under Jon Gruden, and so we felt like bringing him in, having a chance to sit down and visit with him as an offensive staff, with the quarterbacks and just getting some new thoughts and ideas of things we might be able to implement. I would say this, offensively for a long time that I've been here, we've been pretty effective. So, I don't see us putting in a whole new offense or doing something dramatic. But if there's a few ideas that we could take from that, we felt like that would be beneficial."
The Saints have had other offensive minds in the building before, as someone like Mike Martz comes to mind when the team was trying to find ways to better utilize Alvin Kamara. Allen wasn't worried about any kind of backlash bringing Gruden in either, and SI's Albert Breer detailed the events of the visit earlier today.
Allen said, "No, look, you ask everybody that was involved and they thought it was really beneficial for our football team. And look, we're going to look at any avenue that we can to try to improve. So, that was one area we thought, just bringing him in and having the opportunity to sit down and visit with him, would help us."
ON LOOKING TO IMPROVE
Free agency is obviously ongoing, but will be a big thing to keep an eye out for as we're entering post-June 1 territory, and Allen said improving the team is always something the Saints are looking to do. Big players like DeAndre Hopkins are on the market, and we've talked about some of the areas where the team could improve like linebacker and the defensive line.
Allen said, "I think we're always doing that. The pool of available players is not quite what it was, call it two months ago, but we're certainly always looking for any area that we can improve on our team."
