Saints Training Camp Notes and Observations
METAIRIE -- The first training camp practice is in the books for the Saints. It was good to be back out there after such a long wait. The first day can seem like not much is happening, but there was plenty of action on Tuesday for New Orleans. Here's our takeaways, observations, and notes from Day 1.
ATTENDANCE
As Dennis Allen alluded to on Tuesday during his press conference, the Saints had 100 percent attendance for the first day of training camp. That means that Anthony Johnson (PUP) and A.T. Perry (NFI) were out there. Perry was participating in drills, while Johnson was working off to the side after doing some up-downs to start practice with the defense watching.
EBB AND FLOW
So everyone has some context, we viewed about an hour and 10 minutes worth of practice. How things run is typically position-specific drills after stretching, followed by some groups on offense coming together to do more drills. We had two team periods we saw with some special teams work in the middle to break them up.
The team ran gassers to close out practice, with Dennis Allen alongside them after being challenged by Marshon Lattimore. The first few days of practices will be in shells, as Allen somewhat joked that it's underwear with helmets time. Once the pads come on, the intensity will absolutely change.
STARTING LOOKS
Offensively, the Saints rolled a few different looks on the offensive line. James Hurst, Cesar Ruiz, Erik McCoy, Calvin Throckmorton, and Ryan Ramczyk were the first pairing, with Landon Young, Calvin Throckmorton, Max Garcia, Trai Turner, and Storm Norton as the secondary group. Later, we saw Trevor Penning at left tackle with the primary group alongside James Hurst at left guard. Not long afterwards, Hurst kicked out to left tackle with Andrus Peat going in at left guard. The combinations will be something to pay close attention to as we go through training camp.
Primary skill players to open were Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, Juwan Johnson, Adam Prentice, and Alvin Kamara. The next rotation saw Rashid Shaheed, Chris Olave, Jesse James, Jimmy Graham, and Jamaal Williams. There were plenty of different looks going in and out with Derek Carr during some reps.
Defensively, the team rolled with a lineup that had Cam Jordan, Khalen Saunders, Nathan Shepherd, and Carl Granderson along the defensive line. Pete Werner, Demario Davis, and Zack Baun were at linebacker. Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore were at corner, with Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye at safety. Rotational looks included Malcolm Roach and Bryan Bresee inside.
QUARTERBACK BREAKDOWN
Derek Carr finished 4-of-5, while Jameis Winston went 5-of-6, and Jake Haener went 5-of-5 in team drills today. Carr's lone miss was a pass breakup by Paulson Adebo working against Michael Thomas on a slant route to start team drills. He had a nice deep sideline connection to Chris Olave to close out his first series. Carr's second series saw him hit Thomas (more on that shortly), Jamaal Williams on a crossing route, and a nice screen to Alvin Kamara.
For Winston, he hit passes to Kendre Miller over the middle and Bryan Edwards. The second series saw him connect with Taysom Hill on the sideline working against Johnathan Abram, Rashid Shaheed on an intermediate gain over the middle, and then Eno Benjamin on a curl. The lone miss for Winston was a pass throw into the dirt on an attempted screen to Benjamin.
Haener's series saw him connect with Juwan Johnson and Taysom Hill after a nice rollout play. His second series had him connect with Juwan Johnson, Lucas Krull on a nice hookup on a crosser after a great grow, and Elliss Merriweather on a curl. On the hookup to Johnson, Andrew Dowell forced a fumble in which the defense recovered. Haener's comfort level appears to be something that's carried over from minicamp and OTAs.
IT JUST GOT REAL
Seeing Derek Carr and Michael Thomas connect to start the second portion of team drills was a big deal for everyone. He caught a pass and took it upfield, which was a big moment for everyone.
"It felt great. I think it was good for everybody," Carr said. "To see that and 'Okay, everyone take a deep breath.' Now, we just work. Now, we just build off of it. To be able to throw him a ball, I've gotten to throw the football to a lot guys with a lot of catches in my career, and he's another one. That's special. He's a great teammate. He works his butt off and he's worked really hard to get to where he's at today."
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND NOTES
- The cool fridge is back on the field already, and the facility is prepped to welcome fans back.
- There were no visible limitations on Jameis Winston or Michael Thomas.
- The other week, Derek Carr brought a group of players to Las Vegas with him to spend a couple of days there. He wouldn't say who exactly, for obvious reasons, but mentioned having dinner and sharing some time on the field with them.
- Payton Turner had a couple of good pressures on the day, including one that blew up a screen attempt from Winston to Benjamin. He also had a good run stop. Dennis Allen said it was key for him to just continue to develop while not focusing so much on the end result, but he had two nice plays today where you can't ignore him.
- Wil Lutz hit all five of his kicks today. All positions and drills matter, so here's what the field goal team looked like from left to right: Erik McCoy, James Hurst, Ryan Ramczyk, Calvin Throckmorton, Zach Wood, Lewis Kidd, Andrus Peat, Landon Young, Foster Moreau, and Blake Gillikin holding. The final attempt, whether by design or accident was actually a fake simulation where Gillikin threw a pass to Moreau.
- At one point during drills, Marshon Lattimore and Bradley Roby were working with Joe Woods without helmets. It appeared they were going over some positioning, but something I can't recall ever seeing in the past several years.
- Speaking of special teams, punt formations saw J.T. Gray and Isaac Yiadom as the main gunners, with a line of Andrew Dowell, Ty Summers, D'Marco Jackson, Zach Wood, Ryan Connelly, Zack Baun, and Adam Prentice. Taysom Hill was the personal protector with Blake Gillikin handling duties.
- Main returners during punts were Rashid Shaheed, Keke Coutee, and Lynn Bowden Jr.
- Saints broadcast legend Jim Henderson was out at practice today.
