The imaginary down and distance was 3rd-and-3. Jameis Winston dropped back and delivered a well-placed ball to Jarvis Landry as he broke on the out route, only for the WR to have one of his arms pinned to his side.
So what did Landry do? He calmly reached out with his left arm, snared the ball in one hand and turned up field for what would've been a solid chunk of YAC, chattering the whole way with what would loosely be translated to: You can't guard me.
“I’m always gonna be me," Landry said as he completed his first set of OTA since signing in New Orleans. "I’m very competitive. I’m not really a trash-talker, but if it gets fiery, if it gets there, it gets there.”
The veteran was unmistakeable as he went about his craft in the deliberate fashion that's made him great over his 8 years in the NFL. He has a distinct flair in drills. Even when running a simple whip route drill, he's working in stops and starts and toe drags on his way to the destination, leaving one with a clear understanding of why a defender trying to cover that man 1-on-1 is likely to have a rough day.
But that's all part of the package. The Saints knew it when they brought Landry to town on a 1-year deal late in the offseason. He missed the first set of OTAs as he got his affairs in order to join his new team, and the first three days with his new squad have gone, well, as designed.
"He understands how to get open, and then he understands how to make plays with the ball in his hands once he’s got it," first-year head coach Dennis Allen said after practice. "I think he was a really good addition for us, and anxious to really kind of get going with it.”
But one question that still looms is how he'll ultimately pair with Michael Thomas, who has yet to see the field as he continues rehabbing from the ankle injury and surgery that cost him the entirety of his 2021 season.
While they've never played together, the pair knows each other well. As he began speaking about Thomas, Landry said "he's my brother." Then he repeated that phrase two more times. Landry then recalled during his days at LSU, while MT was still in high school, the then-Tigers star would find Thomas in his social media DMs often. He wanted to learn the tools of the trade from Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. as they starred in Baton Rouge. That continued for Thomas at Ohio State, and the duo has been linked throughout their NFL careers with the Saints star breaking several receiving records Landry set during his early years with the Dolphins.
But as he enters Year 9, Landry says he doesn't look at stats or records. It's a "trap," and it's not a productive way to analyze your own work.
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"I’m going to be who I am," Landry said. "I’m gonna run great routes. I’m gonna catch the football and make things happen with it, block for my teammates. That’s just who I am and when I hang it up at some point we can go back and check records and check stats and stuff like that.”
That camaraderie could be what's led to the pair having similar offensive arsenals. Both can create separation in a phone booth, and are at their best when separating from defenders on short routes.
It means the Saints will have the ultimate security blanket should Thomas' ankle again let him down. But can they co-exist in the same offense and have enough targets to go around, along with rookie Chris Olave, and returning players Marquez Callaway, Tre'Quan Smith and Deonte Harty? That's a problem for the coaches to solve.
"I think we all still pose something a little bit different," Landry said. "But I think the biggest thing is we all can make plays.”
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