The good news is that the Saints planned for Alvin Kamara's absence at RB, but for the plan to work, it'll need the rest of the room to get to the end of Week 3 healthy.
Both Eno Benjamin and Kendre Miller went down with ugly-looking injuries at Saturday's training camp practice. The rookie went down in a heap and fumbled after an inadvertent hit to the helmet, then was looked at by trainers before walking off under his own power. Head coach Dennis Allen said it was a jaw issue, and he returned later in the practice.
Benjamin wasn't as fortunate, with his non-contact injury believed to be a ruptured Achilles. He's done for the year. I think Benjamin had a good chance to be the third running back on the depth chart while Kamara served his three-game suspension. So who is that now? My money is on Kirk Merritt based on faces here now, but I fully expect the Saints to kick the tires on veteran RBs. It's tough to imagine they'd be mining at the top of the market (guys like Dalvin Cook, Kareem Hunt or Leonard Fournette), but a guy like J.D. McKissic could make sense.
In a perfect world, you'd never have to think about anyone beyond Williams and Miller. You still have to plan for it, though.
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TAKING ATTENDANCE
The clean bill of health for the Saints to start training camp has evaporated quickly. Benjamin's season-ending injury is now the third -- joining G Trai Turner and LB Andrew Dowell -- and there's been no sighting of Andrus Peat (quad) or Calvin Throckmorton (elbow) for the better part of this week.
LB Demario Davis and DT Bryan Bresee also both missed practice with calf issues. Allen said that neither injury is believed to be significant, but Davis was getting imaging done. RG Cesar Ruiz also got the day off, and Marcus Maye was with the team for walkthrough and stretch, then got the day off for rest.
WRs Tre'Quan Smith and Rashid Shaheed also left early with groin issues.
It's fair to be concerned with the number of soft-tissue injuries that have accrued this week, but we're still in overreaction territory. Turner's injury came just days after he joined the team. Nothing to be done there. To some extent the high number of reported injuries are simply the product of honesty. Back in the Sean Payton era, we'd never know what people were dealing with.
The Saints aren't taking any chances with injuries at this point in camp. Until guys start missing games (which is a ways off) I think we can pump the brakes.
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ALONTAE V OLAVE
Chris Olave vs Alontae Taylor. It's a competitive battle with a whole lot of vowels in the name, and it was a whole lot of fun to watch in 1V1s on Saturday. One funny moment came after Chris Olave worked over the top on a pass from Derek Carr and snagged a one-handed grab over tight coverage.
After the play you could hear Olave yelling: "One hand!"
Taylor then looked at the media and told us we weren't allowed to write about that rep because we missed the first rep as things transitioned outside. But don't worry, Alontae, I gotchu. We did miss a few reps, and I didn't get as close a look at is as I liked, but I definitely saw Taylor's impressive undercut of a ball from Carr as he took down an interception in coverage on No. 12.
You could honestly argue that Taylor was in charge of both reps, considering he forced a one-handed grab just to beat him. Either way, it's very, very, very difficult not to come away impressed with Taylor's work. He's strong, long, athletic and confident.
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CARR'S TD SHOW
The last few days of practice have featured a good bit of sputtering offense, but that's OK. I'd expect the defense to be ahead of the offense at this point as Carr gains chemistry with his receivers. But I do need to see progress.
That's what happened in red zone 7-on-7s indoors, with Carr going 6-for-6 with four touchdowns and one completion to Juwan Johnson that was stopped just shy of the goal line. The other non-TD was a dumpoff to Jamaal Williams.
The first TD pass went to Alvin Kamara on what looked like an angle route (I really want to see more angle routes). It's a play that requires good timing and quality protection. Hopefully that's there this season.
The second TD came in the back of the end zone to Keith Kirkwood, with Carr showing patience (a luxury with no pass rush) before No. 18 came open for the toe-tapping catch.
The third TD came on a ball rifled up the seam to Chris Olave, who gained inside position on Ugo Amadi out of the slot.
The final TD went to Foster Moreau, who found himself wide open on a busted coverage. He celebrated with a dunk over the goal post.
Things weren't perfect in 11s, but we'll take things one step at a time.
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I LIKE JAKE HAENER
I feel like I need to get that out into the world first, because as I play the role of pump-the-brakes guy ... I feel like my motives might be misconstrued. I really like Jake Haener. I think his upside is real, and he can play above his height. He processes things quickly, and he can get the ball out with more than enough zip. Today was the second time he found a wide open receiver on a busted coverage with a well thrown ball (this time it was A.T. Perry), and I was less impressed with the throw than I was how quickly he identified it. Twice he found Lucas Krull for nice plays in red zone drills late in the practice, and while he did lose an interception to Ugo Amadi, you'll accept the bad with a lot of good mixed in.
That said, I have to point out a pet peeve of mine: Can we allow the kid some time to struggle? I see this constantly with young players, but particularly with QBs. They look good early on, they get hyped, and hyped, and hyped, then the games start and they look human. People ask: Wait, what happened? I thought this guy was good.
You don't draft a kid in the fourth round because you're looking to play him immediately. He's not even in the conversation to be a backup right now. If Carr and Jameis both went down, I'm pretty sure it'd be Taysom Hill getting the start. And that's OK. All you have to do is look at the MNF debacle that Ian Book was forced to start for an example. The kid never looked the same after that dumpster fire of a football game. His confidence was shot. He struggled in the preseason of Year 2. It was over.
Give the kid some time. Enjoy the highs, don't overreact to the lows. It's incredibly rare to see a mid-round QB make an impact at the NFL level ... anywhere. In order for it to happen, you have to do it the right way. I think the Saints understand that.
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FOSKEY IS STRUGGLING
We'll start talking about this more once it becomes more obvious, but I'm starting to wonder if this might end up being something of a redshirt season for the second-round pass-rusher out of Notre Dame. Right now he's well down the depth chart, and I think Tanoh Kpassagnon, Carl Granderson and Payton Turner have all looked good this preseason. You don't typically see pass-rusher rotations going five deep, so if everyone is healthy, I'm not sure he gets on the field.
Where has he struggled most? It's tough to say. He's been stuck on too many blocks inside and out. He did have nice recognition on a Taysom Hill play today that he stretched to the edge of the field, but there's been little in the way of run stuffs or QB pressures. As I pointed to above with Haener, it's far too early to make a huge deal out of it, but it's something to be aware of.
What I'll say is, go look at Cam Jordan's rookie season, when he started 15 games with 1 sack (I believe he was working in at DT for some reason). It can take time to figure things out. I want him to stay healthy and keep working, and also to hang around Cam like a sponge. Better days should be ahead.