The New Orleans Saints will be returning to a practice field near you this summer, at least if you live in the greater New Orleans area.
The team will return to the Ochsner Sports Performance Center in Metairie for its 2025 training camp practices, a decision that new head coach Kellen Moore confirmed Tuesday morning. The Saints held their 2024 camp out in Irvine, California to avoid ongoing construction on the team's dining and indoor practice facilities.
"The exposure to the heat and all that sort of stuff, we think there’ll be value to it, just getting accustomed to that," Moore told reporters at the annual NFL owner's meetings.
The decision will also allow for open practices, which did not occur out in California. The Saints did hold a handful of open practices upon returning from Irvine. The team has already debuted its new facilities, which have been greeted with enthusiasm from players and staff.
It's likely there will still be some on-location work for the Saints this offseason, with the team looking into opportunities for joint practices. The Saints' preseason schedule has not yet been announced, but they will have just one road preseason game this year, with an extra road game during the regular season. It's possible that preseason matchup could help determine the location for those practices.
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The Saints will begin the first steps of their offseason program this month, but won't get onto the field until rookie minicamp later this offseason. By virtue of hiring a new coach the Saints are among the teams allowed to begin their offseason workout programs as early as April 7. Teams with returning coaches cannot begin that process until April 21. That workout program will be followed by three sets of OTAs beginning in May, followed by a mandatory minicamp before a break and then the full training camp kicking off in late July.
“We’re really excited to begin the process at OTAs," Moore said. "Obviously OTAs are structured in a way that it’s more of a teaching, it’s more of a buildup, and so we’re just excited to begin the build.”