The New Orleans Saints are getting ready to head out to California, but they won't have the services of one of their young running backs for the foreseeable future.
Saints running back Devin Neal suffered a hamstring injury during Sunday's scrimmage and he's expected to miss multiple weeks, head coach Kellen Moore said. It throws a wrench into what had been a solid offseason for the 6th round rookie out of Kansas, and will mean he misses a prime opportunity to make an impression in the preseason opener.
Alvin Kamara won't see the field, but the other five in Kendre Miller, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Cam Akers, Velus Jones Jr. and Marcus Yarns certainly will.
“The volume is a little bit tricky just because we have probably more than you normally would coming into a camp, but they’re all worthy," Moore said. "There’s not one guy in there that can’t make our 53. They’re all really good players and then, yea, the tackling component is real and that’s what you’re most excited about with those guys in preseason.”
Decisions on playing time and reps for the preseason opener against the Chargers haven't been made yet, but coaches will have those discussion Thursday and Friday, Moore said.
"[The depth RBs are] all going to get awesome reps and so really all of them are live, live the entire game," Moore said. "We’ll try to get as many looks as we can."
TAKING ATTENDANCE
Neal, as noted above, wasn't the only absence on Wednesday. The Saints were also without UDFA WR Moochie Dixon, who has a shoulder injury.
TE Juwan Johnson was also in attendance but not participating, he's still working back from a hamstring issue suffered early in camp. The Saints were also limiting Erik McCoy's reps as he was replaced by backup Will Clapp for the first few sets of team drills. He got in for the final set of drills, focused on third down.
The good news was J.T. Gray getting back on the field after missing several practices due to his own hamstring injury.
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QB WATCH
It was another day with Spencer Rattler leading the 1s. This was the first time all camp that one player got those reps on back-to-back days. Read into that what you will.
He still seems to be the odds-on favorite to be the Week 1 starter, but I'm starting to wonder exactly where the offense is as a whole. It's possibly the Saints are just gearing up to have an elite defense, but there's been a notable lack of downfield passing throughout camp. The Saints' best chance to win this year might be playing small ball, but I am thinking that might be what players are being coached to do right now.
This wasn't the best day for the QBs, and it seemed to be a low-energy day in general, but Rattler did have the best throw of the practice on a deep crosser to Rashid Shaheed. The timing on those types of throws seems to be improving. There was also a pass targeting Chris Olave that hit Alontae Taylor in the hands. The DB was unable to corral it and the ball fell harmlessly to the turf. There was also another throw on a shallow cross that missed the mark.
Tyler Shough's best throw of the day was on his first rep when he rolled out away from pressure and put a perfect ball to Olave as he skirted the sideline. The Saints have the athletes at QB to execute those scramble drills more often, so it's good to see some success there. Shough was also sacked three times (Cam Jordan, Khalen Saunders and Jonah Williams) and was intercepted by Jordan Howden on a ball that probably shouldn't have been thrown targeting Olave, who never seemed to locate the ball. Shough started the day with the 2s, but he did take the last 9 reps of the day with the 1s as they worked on red zone.
Haener worked with the 3s. He still looks as confident as ever, but he probably needs to do something special in the preseason opener to make noise in this actual competition.
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HOWDEN BUSY
One thing I'd say about Jordan Howden's first two seasons is that he was on the field way too much to not have more than 7 passes defensed over 33 games played. It seemed like he had half that total just today, including an impressive PBU on a ball targeting Alvin Kamara in the flat.
He'll likely be third string at safety and potentially a dime defender, but the Saints need more production out of quality depth players. He might be turning a corner.
LATER PRACTICE
The Saints are headed out to Irvine this week for a handful of practices surrounding the preseason opener against the Chargers. They'll be back at the campus of UC Irvine, the same place they held the entirety of the 2024 camp.
The difference this time will be the timing. The Saints are planning to hold evening practices, scheduled to start at about 6 p.m. central (4 p.m. pacific).
“Just the weather out there will allow us to kind of be in more of a routine where we can install, walk, then we’ll practice at the end of the day," Moore said. "A nice little change for our guys who tend to play in afternoon games, and so a chance for us to kind of get back on that schedule.”
The Saints will hold another scrimmage-type practice on Friday, though it'll be significantly less intense than the one held on Sunday.