The New Orleans Saints got the pads on, and the result was a high-energy practice and even a fight.
It's the true start of a lot of what this team will be doing, particularly as it installs Klint Kubiak's new scheme ahead of the 2024 season, as Deuce McAllister explains.
"It’s the tempo and I think guys are excited about it. You had the day off yesterday and so now you’re amped up a little bit, so it’s good to see," McAllister said after practice. "I thought both sides won and that’s the way it’s been. Different periods the offense may have won, different periods the defense may have won."
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The Saints are back in pads in each of the next four practices, split up by an off day on Thursday. We should expect to see more specialized work, red zone, 2-minute and the like, none of which we've really seen thus far.
"That’ll come and that’s probably done purposely because they wanted to put the pads on and so it’s hard to practice some of those third down and goal line without any pads on," McAllister said. "So let’s get good at what we know we can do and then some of those specialty situations you can kind of practice on those because we haven’t seen them do 2-minute or any of that type of stuff. At some point that’s what they’ll work on heavy. It’s still early in the process, you’re still mixing and matching."
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MORE FROM DEUCE
On Chase Young
"You get your first action of Chase Young getting involved with team and immediately you see him use his power and I think that was a little shocking to some of the tackles that he's gone up against. It’s like, no, I’m not gonna beat you with speed, I’m gonna beat you with a bullrush and for him to get that push and that pressure, so we saw some good stuff.
“He reminds me, now I don’t know if he can live up to the status, of Julius Peppers. He’s not as tall as Julius, I played against Pep, he reminds you of Julius Peppers. Now, Julius was probably a little more slimmer. Chase is a little thicker, but I mean, that’s the type of talent that he has. He is a big, big, he’s thick. … He can fill it up, and so you can see why a 5-star athlete coming out of college and top five draft pick and if he can stay healthy, man, he’s got some tools, I’ll put it that way. When you see him in pads it’s like, man, he could easily be a tight end of a defensive tackle.”
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On Jordan Mims
“He has taken advantage of the opportunity. … You’re not gonna wear Alvin out and so with Kendre not being available he is taking advantage of those opportunities and he’s had runs and I agree with you, today was probably the first day that you could really tell from a separation standpoint how much and if he can actually hold up, but he has been able to really flash when opportunity has come for him and by being able to flash like that it becomes, hey, can we use this guy on special teams. I mean, because we know the rules will be a little bit different and he was in-house, practice squad, et cetera, I think that he will get a shot. … We talked about it over the summer, Kendre is immensely talented, but you’ve got to be healthy and when you’re not healthy you miss opportunities and he doesn’t have a lot of skins on the wall where I can say hey, I know what this guy can do. He’s got to show what he can do. You’ve seen flashes, but you haven’t seen a lot of it and Mims has taken advantage.”
On Kool-Aid McKinstry
“A good corner and he’s probably ... thicker for his size. He looks just thick with pads on. You’ve got some guys that are tall, slender and maybe not a lot of weight. He’s listed at 5-11, right at 200 pounds. He looks that. You could easily put him … at a safety position, he would be fine. The thing that you love about him and he’s still learning, I mean, because he’s missed a lot of reps, he’s willing to compete. He’s willing to learn. He’s gonna listen. But he wants to get better, so it’s not like him saying hey, I just want to go against maybe guys in their first year or guys that may be a free agent. He wants to go against everybody, whether that’s Chris Olave, whether that’s Rashid or whether that’s Mason Tipton or even A.T. Perry when the opportunity comes. He wants the reps because every individual as far as the receiver is gonna be a little bit different and he’s held his own. … He’s gotten beat, but he’s made plays as well.”