Kellen Moore has seemingly pushed all the right buttons in his first head coaching offseason. Will that continue out west?
Early returns are positive with a spirited practice Thursday afternoon at the campus of UC Irvine ahead of a planned scrimmage on Friday. It's the second straight season the Saints found themselves at the Anteaters' facility, though there was no construction pretext this time. Instead the 10-day trip offered a chance to "reset," a work head coach Kellen Moore repeated as he assessed the trip.
“It’s a good little refocus," Moore said. "You go through training camp and certainly it turns into some dog days at times, so to speak, so I think this allows our guys to hit a little reset button. We flew out here, everyone had a nice night last night as far as grabbing dinner and then this morning we ... focused up and these guys had an excellent practice."
It's far from the first camp trip to So-Cal, but it's one of the first in a long time without joint practices on the docket. Another interesting quirk is the time, with practices scheduled from 4-6 p.m. (pacific). The later practice time means that players and coaches can get their meetings done earlier in the day. When practice is over, the day is over and players can do whatever bonding activities they see fit to.
After an offseason that featured several coach-driven outings, the players are largely left to their own devices as far as team-building. The team's veterans play a big role in that.
“I think it’s important to let them kind of go. You know, there’s a part of it, we will certainly schedule certain things, but I think it’s important to let these guys develop those relationships together, everyone has different interests, different restaurants, different preferences, and so we allow those guys to kind of enjoy the different things that they like.”
It might not sound like much, but good team chemistry can change a lot throughout the course of a season, and it's often the first step in building that "culture" thing we hear so much about.
"I love the energy that was out here," Moore said. "You can tell the juice was really, really good and we’ve just got to keep building on that.”
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TAKING ATTENDANCE
The 2025 version of this team continues to make this portion of my notes boring, and I hope that continues.
The only active player who wasn't spotted at Thursday's practice was Rico Payton, whom Moore said was dealing with an illness. RB Devin Neal was also not participating, but was spotted getting in some rehab work during the day's session. Juwan Johnson and J.T. Gray were back in the action after they dealt with soft tissue injuries.
The Saints also had a new addition in TE Mason Pline, and a returning face in QB Hunter Dekkers. P Matthew Hayball was waived.
Chris Olave did appear to roll his ankle early on in the practice. He was hobbled for a few moments and got his ankle taped up before returning to the session. He finished out the practice and didn't look any worse for wear, but it'll something to keep an eye during Friday's scrimmage.
QB WATCH
It was another Tyler Shough QB1 day and it was one of his better performances of camp. He made throws under pressure and used his legs well on designed runs. After a run-heavy set of team drills to open the practice, Shough completed 4 of his next 5, including a well placed ball over the middle to Rashid Shaheed and another to Brandon Cooks on a crosser as he backpedaled against pressure.
The ball seems to be coming out faster and on target more often. The rookie has been looking more lately like a player who could survive as an NFL starter. For now it's too small a sample size. If Shough can deliver in this week's preseason game the conversation will get a lot more interesting.
Spencer Rattler continued to have a steady hand and appears in line to get the QB1 reps on Friday in a competitive scrimmage session. He had nice balls on the day to Juwan Johnson on a boot rollout, and his most impressive throw of the day was a red zone scramble drill when he rolled out to his right and found Kendre Miller with a ball laced between multiple defenders. Red zone is my big question for Rattler right now. He delivered today.
Jake Haener continued to work with the 3s. His best throw of the day was a threaded ball to Dante Pettis as Jaylan Ford got through on a pressure. Haener to Pettis has been a very solid combo in this camp.
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FORD RUNS
We've talked a lot about rookie Danny Stutsman in this camp, but this was a strong day for second-year pro Jaylan Ford. The former Longhorn was injured out in Irvine last year but delivered on well-timed blitzes and big hits in this practice. I think the Saints linebacker room is in good shape.
Another player to mention in that regard is Kendre Miller. I don't want to talk about it too much and jinx him, but Irvine was a house of horrors for the young RB a year ago. He's keeping his head down and grinding this time around.
CHRIS RUMPH
When Saints OLB Chris Rumph was told me had been mentioned a lot as one of the camp's standouts, he looked genuinely surprised. "Who said that," he asked.
The answer: a lot of people -- and good on him for genuinely not paying attention like many players will say they don't. So I did want to make it clear: Yes, Chris Rumph has been one of the standouts of camp.
After working with Staley previously with the Chargers, Rumph worked back from multiple injuries and has been one of the more dysfunction-causing edge rushers in camp (and I mean that in a positive way). He doesn't have the typical DE build Saints fans will be used to, but he has speed and length and has frequently been spotting causing havoc in the backfield. He simply fits a role that Brandon Staley's defense prioritizes. He also plays fast, which is something the Saints defense has been lacking the past few seasons.
I doubt Chris will see this.
LAGNIAPPE
Blake Grupe went 5-for-5 again today. He's now 31-32 (96.8%) in camp. Need I mention there was a relatively strong crosswind today? Seriously, keep an eye on this kid in the fantasy drafts this year. ... The Saints have been cross-training their depth OL spots lately, with shifts like Dillon Radunz kicking out to tackle and Landon Young moving in to guard. Another interesting shift has been Torricelli Simpkins, who appears to be taking over as the third-string center. It doesn't sound major, but that's a good way to guarantee a spot on the practice squad. ... The Saints are having a few too many pre-snap penalties to my liking on offense. The constant QB rotation probably doesn't help, but it's not a good sign for when there's actual noise to deal with.