It was another busy day at Saints minicamp, and the specialty/situational work continued in team drills.
There were no significant changes in attendance, though Taco Charlton and Dylan Maybin were spotted getting in limited work, as was Marcus Maye, who continued to work to the side as he recovers from an Achilles issue.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
Key names absent:
- WR Michael Thomas
- TE Taysom Hill
- DE Marcus Davenport
- DE Payton Turner
Of those players, Dennis Allen said they were again in the facility for rehab work on Wednesday.
BOBBY'S PLAY OF THE DAY
Chris Olave does a variety of things well, but his skills as a deep-ball magnet will be watched the most closely in Year 1. And he showed off exactly those skills during 7-on-7 work Wednesday, going up over JT Gray and Alontae Taylor in coverage for an impressive grab downfield through contact. Gray was down on the field for several moments after the collision, but left the field under his own power.
“We talk about getting contested catches, well that’s what we need to see in a real game, the receivers being aggressive to the ball," Bobby Hebert said. "It’s like going up for a rebound and Chris Olave looked really good on that particular play."
Olave was the target on a handful of other deep balls. One was broken up by Vincent Gray (no relation) on a nice play by the DB. It's clear the Saints will be aggressive pushing the ball downfield and Olave will be the common target.
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PAULSON ADEBO SHOWS OUT
It wasn't a perfect day for the 2nd-year corner, but Paulson Adebo found himself in the right place at the right time regularly. His standout moment came when he battled to the inside on a hitch by TE Juwan Johnson and deflected a Jameis Winston pass into the air. It was up for grabs, and Olave ended up coming down with it.
"From the get-go I thought the defense set the tone in 7-on-7," Hebert said.
A perfect day would've been Adebo intercepting the ball himself, but he continues to show the skills that the Saints will like to see as they set the depth chart across from Marshon Lattimore. The battle between he and Bradley Roby (and possibly even Alontae Taylor) for that CB2 spot will be an interesting one to watch.
JAMEIS SPREADS IT AROUND
A popular topic of conversation on Tuesday was Jameis Winston's comfortability throwing to veteran Jarvis Landry. It's only been a handful of practices, but there's a clear connection there.
"He’s just a baller who knows how to get open," Winston said Tuesday.
Whether it was a conscious decision or simply how practice developed, Landry wasn't targeted once by Winston in 7-on-7s Wednesday, and things were a bit off-kilter. There was the tipped ball referenced above, and also a way-to-late throw to Olave back across the field that would've been a hold-your-breath moment in an actual game. There was another missed connection to Kevin White, but Winston did connect with Easop Winston and Juwan Johnson on other throws.
Deonte Harris was also a popular target of the QBs throughout the day, getting open early and often. It's just a reminder that while the top-end of the WR depth chart is potentially loaded, we still need to see a regular connection with Landry, Michael Thomas down the road, and whomever else steps into those WR3/slot duties.
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PASS RUSH GETS HOME
Call it a good sign for the pass-rush that they're getting home without Marcus Davenport or Payton Turner in on the action, or you could call it a rough sign for the offensive line. Either way, it's what we saw on Day 2 of minicamp.
Linebacker Zack Baun also stood out as a pass-rusher, Mike Detillier said: "He's really effective in that role."
Kentavius Street and David Onyemata got through to collapse the interior of the line on multiple plays, and Trevor Penning had a tough time corralling Carl Granderson on second-team reps. It's not unusual for the defense to be ahead of the offense early in the offseason, and that seems to be the case thus far.