One of the biggest Saints training camp battles isn't hard to spot, but we might not get any real answers until the full-speed football begins.
That will be the competition between Alontae Taylor and Paulson Adebo at the outside corner spot across from Marshon Lattimore. A year ago it was Adebo shining in camp and earning that spot, but with injuries and inconsistency, things didn't go as planned. That's why, as Deuce McAllister explained this week on WWL, we might want to wait before making any judgements this time around.
“Show me in a game," McAllister told Mike Detillier and Bobby Hebert. "I was fooled [last year]. I knew that there was a little bit of grabbing last year, but it’s always going to be up to the crew on how much they’re going to call. And so I need to see it in the game. Let me see what it translates to in the game. Because we know anybody can get handsy and if the officials are going to let me get away with it, then that’s what I’m going to do. ... The Saints, if both of those guys can go out and play at an elite level, they are giddy across the board."
Listen to the full interview with Deuce in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Thus far head coach Dennis Allen hasn't tipped his hand as to who might be ahead in the race for the starting job. The pair has continued to alternate first-team reps, with Adebo getting the first shot on Wednesday and flipping to second team behind Taylor on Thursday.
One way or another, it's one of those classic champagne problems that NFL teams have to navigate, but no team will ever complain about having too many talented players.
"Both of those guys want to be on the field and you can only have two outside corners," McAllister continues. "But at the same time, the way that this game is played, they’ll figure it out. If both of them are playing at that high of a level, they will excel defensively, on the back end, because teams won’t be able to complete passes.”
The Saints are back in action on Friday and Saturday for their first pair open practices, followed by a day off on Sunday, then the first full-padded practice on Monday.
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MORE FROM DEUCE
On Payton Turner's good start
“It definitely helps his confidence. I mean, because, for Payton I don’t know if it’s necessarily been lack of ability. I think it’s been more lack of availability. He’s extremely talented and we saw flashes of it. He had two sacks in one game, and then as he’s coming down to celebrate he gets rolled up on and ends up hurting his ankle. And so for him to just have plays like that, yea, it’s good, but I don’t know if it necessarily translates because … you’re not in pads.”
On Jimmy Graham's return
“The man is coming back and playing the game because he wants to play. Just because he didn’t play last year doesn’t mean, oh, he’s washed up and he needs to play. He wants to play. He wants to win a ring. I talked to him. He wants to win a ring, and why not New Orleans. He probably had other opportunities, other places to sign. But to say that ‘oh, he needs this, that and the other thing,’ that’s foul, that’s totally foul.
"For Jimmy, you can use him third down, third and short, you want to create a mismatch. And then the other part of it is, he has been in the league for a while. You have some tight ends that are young. For him to be able to teach, for him to be able to show how — specifically Juwan — hey, look, this is how you run this route. This is how you set this guy up. Use your athletic ability in this manner. Just to have that to bounce off of him a little bit, if Jimmy gives you five touchdowns, that’s fantastic. That’s more than you could ever imagine in any scenario. But at the same time, you’re not trying to play Jimmy for 60 snaps. You’re not trying to play him for 70 snaps. One, you want to see, can he come in and contribute and help you to be able to make the squad. And two, the other part of it is, it’s going to be 20 plays, hey look, I need to use you here, but I need for you to go out and produce in those situations as well.”
Expectations at safety
“I don’t know if Marcus [Maye] was 100% coming off the Achilles. And then the time that both of [Maye and Tyrann Mathieu] missed early on, as far as summer and/or camp, getting back into the fray in a new defense. Let’s just put a number on it. Last year probably was a 6.5. This year they should probably be at about an 8, 8.5, particularly on the back end, the play from your safeties. And a lot of that is just being comfortable in the defense and being able to make calls. I see something, I can check out of it. I see something, I can get us into a play. And really, truly, you didn’t give up a lot of yardage. Can you create turnovers? That’s what we want. We want turnovers. And so, can you create turnovers? And that’s where I think on the back end they should be able to thrive."
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