Cloud Coverage, More Solid DB Play, Bad News for Saints OL Radunz

Day 9 at the New Orleans Saints training facility had a smaller, but rowdy crowd.

Dec 28, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; New Orleans Saints guard Dillon Radunz (77) blocks Tennessee Titans defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat (93) during the second half at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Cloud coverage and a little breeze made for a much more comfortable day at the New Orleans Saints practice facility in Metairie.

Though Saints personnel were expecting a packed house like Saturday, there were empty seats in some places, especially in the North end zone bleachers. Clouds drifted overhead for most at least half the practice making conditions almost tolerable.

Injuries Piling Up

Saints head coach Kellen Moore had bad news for offensive lineman Dillon Radunz. His early-in-practice injury Saturday has been determined to be an ACL. No word as to how long the sixth year man out of North Dakota State will miss.

In addition Moore told the media that defensive end Cam Jordan experienced a hamstring injury before leaving to attend Drew Brees' induction into the NFL Hall of Fame this weekend. Jordan was not out at practice and is being evaluated.

Defensive lineman John Ridgeway III is dealing with a back issue and is day-to-day. 2nd year running back Devin Neal is also working on a hamstring issue and is a day-to-day guy.

Kamara Back

Aug 02, 2026; Metairie, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara (41) during training camp at Ochsner Sports Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Running back Alvin Kamara was back at practice today after missing a couple of days. The 10th year man made the trip with Newton to Canton to see their former quarterback get inducted in the HOF.

Zeroing In on the Offensive Line

Especially with the injury to Radunz, we're going to keep a close eye on who plays where on the O-line.

When Tyler Shough was at quarterback, the front five was Taliese Fuaga, Cesar Ruiz, Erik McCoy, David Edwards, and Kelvin Banks Jr.

With Spencer Rattler at the helm, it was Xavier Truss, William Sherman, Torricelli Simpkins III, Easton Kitty, and Asim Richards in front of him.

D-Line in Focus

Defensively, the alignment looked pretty similar to what we've seen all week with a few hitches:

1st String - Carl Granderson, Vernon Broughton, Davon Godchaux, and Chase Young.

2nd Line - Tyree Wilson, Khristian Boyd, Myles Cole and Anfernee Jennings.

More Open Offense

Each day we see the offense open up more and more, mixing up passing more often that we had seen before. That usually means the run game is starting to satisfy the coaches a bit.

We got to see some beautiful throws in 11-on-11 drills:

- Rattler lead a beautiful deep route to rookie wide out Bryce Lance, which he caught for a 40-plus yard touchdown. Isaac Yiadom was guarding on the play, but it was pretty much a perfect connection.
- On a designed roll out, Shough completed an out to Chris Olave. #6 is looking more comfortable as training camp wears on.
- Not every time, but almost every time, we see Kool-Aid McKinstry 1-on-1 with Olave, and the Saints DB is like another coat of paint on him.
- Another Rattler pass to Lance, this time on a deep out that was perfectly thrown around 25-yards downfield.
- Our first chance to see a well-developed screen play was today when Shough completed one in the left flat to Travis Etienne Jr. It gained close to 20-yards before E-T-N was tackled.
- Late in drills, 3rd string quarterback Zach Wilson found third year receiver Ronnie Bell deep down the sidelines for a contested touchdown.
- Tight ends Juwan Johnson and Noah Fant traded out time with the 1st team, sometimes both being in the game at the same time.
- For the most part, receivers Barion Brown and Lance are playing with the second team. Today, however, we spied Lance with the firsts for a couple of plays.
- Others with the second team are running back Audric Esteme and tight end Oscar Delp.

Some Special Teams Work

The coverage and offensive side of the kick off game was covered today during one of the periods. Sometimes, the Jugs machine would do the honors, other times Charlie Smyth would kick it. During that time, we saw at least a half-dozen guys back for returns, including Brown, Lance, Brock Rechsteiner, Estime, Ty Chandler, and Jalen Cropper.

Except for shagging some errant passes and kicks, we didn't see rookie kicker Tanner Brown kicking any field goals. Smyth did some live kicking, but seemed hit or miss on his tries.

For our first time, we got to see punter Ryan Wright back to punt. Though he didn't kick many times, it was good to see the free agent punter out there participating.

Training Camp Schedule

Here's the practice schedule for the week:

- Monday, OFF DAY
- Tuesday, 9:00-10:35 a.m., Pads (Closed)
- Wednesday, 9:00-10:15 a.m., Helmets (Closed)
- Thursday, 9:00-11:00 a.m., Pads (SOLD OUT)
- Friday, TBD, Walk-Thru (Closed)\
- Saturday, Saints vs. Jaguars, 3:00 p.m., Superdome

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