Saints Camp: Day 21 Practice Notes and Observations

The media got one last look at the Saints before Saturday's preseason finale against the Cardinals. Here's what we saw.

Author:
John Hendrix
Publish date:
Aug 26, 2021 2:19 PM EDT

Assuming nothing else transpires, Thursday might have been the end of Saints training camp practices open to the media. The team has their final preseason game on Saturday, and then we'll see what happens over the next couple of days prior to final cuts next Tuesday. Here's all of our notes and observations from Day 21.

Training Camp Recaps: Day 20 | Day 19 | Day 18 | Day 17 | Day 16 | Day 15 | Day 13 | Day 12 | Day 11 | Day 10 | Day 9 | Day 8 | Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

Attendance and Transactions

The Saints were without Wil Lutz, Tre'Quan Smith, Ken Crawley, Will Clapp, Terron Armstead, Nick Vannett, Malcolm Roach, and Payton Turner. Bryce Thompson was also not present, and we later learned that he was waived/injured. Meanwhile, KeiVarae Russell returned to practice after being out from testing positive for COVID-19.

Starting Rotation and Notes

Without Terron Armstead in the lineup, James Hurst took all starting reps at left tackle.

QB: Jameis Winston
RB: Alvin Kamara
FB: Alex Armah
WR: Marquez Callaway, Deonte Harris
TE: Juwan Johnson
OL: James Hurst, Andrus Peat, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Ryan Ramczyk

Sub Notes: New Orleans rotated in Ethan Wolf, Tony Jones Jr., Ty Montgomery, Latavius Murray, and Kevin White in with the first team.

Defensively, we saw a base 4-3 look to open, with a familiar shift to nickel coverage afterwards.

DE: Cam Jordan, Marcus Davenport
DT: Albert Huggins, Christian Ringo
LB: Kwon Alexander, Demario Davis, Kaden Elliss
CB: Paulson Adebo (left), Marshon Lattimore (right)
S: Malcolm Jenkins, Marcus Williams

Sub Notes: Pete Werner, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Shy Tuttle, and R.J. McIntosh were some of the primary subs that came in to rotate with the first team on the day.

Rhythm, Flow, and Observations

The Saints worked on positional drills to start practice, which is everything we've seen from the start. We ended up having four separate 11-on-11 sessions, with the final one emphasizing work in the red zone from the 10-yard-line. There was plenty of special teams work, including field goal attempts, punt simulations, and kick returns.

Strong Offensive Mind in the House: Mike Martz was at practice and will be in town for a few sessions for the Saints. Sean Payton said that he had never worked with him before, but cited the times he used to play against the Rams. Martz will be evaluating some things, and the team hopes to get a few things from one of the men behind 'The Greatest Show on Turf'. Payton specifically cited Alvin Kamara and how the Saints could use him better in relation to Marshall Faulk.

Center Shuffle: Perhaps it's because Will Clapp is being out, but Calvin Throckmorton got a good bit of work snapping with the second team.

Rosas Kicks: In two separate periods of field goals, Aldrick Rosas went a perfect 6-of-6. This included hits from 33 (extra point), 34, 39, 33, 42, and 44 yards out. This is a good sign for the Saints kicking situation, assuming something doesn't change. Rosas missed an extra point on Monday night. He also appears to be the team's kickoff specialist with Nolan Cooney out of the mix.

11-on-11 Notes: Both Taysom Hill and Jameis Winston finished 9-of-15 on the day. In four separate sessions and series, Winston finished 1-of-3, 3-of-5, 3-of-4, and 2-of-3, while Hill went 2-of-3, 2-of-5, and 3-of-4, and 2-of-3.

Winston's first series saw the first pass broken up by Marshon Lattimore that was intended for Marquez Callaway. There was contact, and could have warranted a flag. The second play saw Alvin Kamara truck Marcus Williams with relative ease, while the next play was a short gain up the middle by Latavius Murray that Kwon Alexander came in with some authority. Winston's second pass went into the flats on a swing pass to Murray, and the final throw went deep right to Kevin White, but they were not on the same page and the ball was overthrown.

Hill's series saw him check it down to Tony Jones Jr. to start, while he tried for Kevin White on his first pass two plays later. However, it was dropped. He hit on his final pass to Kawaan Baker for an intermediate gain over the middle after a nice run by Devonta Freeman.

Winston's second series started with a Juwan Johnson drop on a crossing route from right to left, but he bounced back by making a good play in the pocket to escape pressure and find Deonte Harris over the middle. He'd hit a swing pass to a wide open Alvin Kamara on the next play, and then a short sideline pass to Ethan Wolf on a down that could have easily been a Carl Granderson sack. The final pass was an overthrow to Lil'Jordan Humphrey. It was simply way too high for him to even have a chance.

Hill followed his second series up by having a mixed outing. He connected with one of the biggest plays of the day to Kevin White deep down the left sideline to start, but then missed Devonta Freeman over the middle and then couldn't connect on a slant to Ty Montgomery. However, he did follow that up by hitting Juwan Johnson down the seam for a big play. His last pass was nearly picked by Chase Hansen, and it would have went down for an interception had Lil'Jordan Humphrey not broken it up.

Jameis Winston's third series saw him hit a crossing route to Callaway to start for a nice game, and then a screen play to Deonte Harris that went for a minimal gain. His next pass was a throwaway due to the pocket collapsing, and Latavius Murray made an excellent run on the next play by juking Demario Davis. The final play for Winston saw him hit Harris underneath.

Taysom Hill responded after seeing the first screen play to Alvin Kamara get blown up by Shaq Smith. Hill had to throw it into the turf. He hit on his next three passes, a swing pass to Devonta Freeman, a wide receiver screen to Easop Winston Jr. that would have resulted in a loss, and then Garrett Griffin underneath for a short gain.

Winston and Hill's final series took place in the red zone from the 10-yard-line. Winston overthrew his first pass to Humphrey with Paulson Adebo in coverage after Cam Jordan and Albert Huggins did a nice job stuffing an Alvin Kamara run. He hit Kamara over the middle near the sideline short of the goal line, and then Tanoh Kpassagnon made an excellent run stuff on Tony Jones Jr. The final play for Winston saw him get the Saints into the end zone, as he hit Marquez Callaway for the score.

For Hill, he hit Murray to start the series near the 2-yard-line, while Zack Baun made an excellent run stop on the next play against Murray. He then found Easop Winston Jr. for a touchdown from 5 yards out, and then kept the ball to run it in from 4 yards out. The final play was intended for Kevin White, but was incomplete at the goal line.