Whenever I climb about a training camp hype train, I always feel like I should put a disclaimer in front of it, because that's all it is.
We go out and watch practice. Players stand out, and in most cases it's the ones you were expecting. But there always seems to be at least one instance of an unknown or lesser known player taking camp by storm and immediately gaining cult hero status within the fanbase. There's no question who that player is this year ... it's Barion Brown.
The former LSU standout arrived as a 6th round pick and was expected to be a return ace with some offensive upside, but he's refused to be ignored throughout the first week of camp. He flashed early and stood out in 1-on-1s and the skillset is electric. There was already a buzz, but over the past two days he's hauled in explosive plays during 2-minute drills to really ignite the talk. Today it was a 46-yard bomb from Spencer Rattler for what would've been a walkoff touchdown, outrunning Isaac Yiadom in coverage before flexing in the back of the end zone at the team's indoor facility.
Coverage brought to you by Trane: It's Hard To Stop A TraneTrane: It's Hard To Stop A TraneSaints head coach Kellen Moore applauded the young WR for him preparation, and that's what's helping him deliver on the field. The Saints picked Brown in the 6th round out of LSU in the most recent draft.
"I think he does an awesome job. I think that's one of the parts that I'm most impressed by him," Moore said, "because I think that's the hardest part for these young guys. ... There's so much more of a mental wear and tear on them with the preparation side and sometimes that impacts their ability to go out there and perform, and so for Barion, he's been really assignment sound, he's been really detailed and so all that credit goes to him getting ready."
It's not the first time we've seen a camp hero anointed, and it won't be the last. Names like Emmanuel Butler and Onome Ojo come to mind. More recently it was Mason Tipton, who burst onto the scene in 2024 and made the roster despite missing a good chunk of camp with an injury.
Will Brown turn into more than just a flashy camp story? Time will tell. The real test will come if and when he starts picking up more reps against the first team defense, but the biggest tests will come in joint practices and preseason games.
One way or another, we've got our camp hero storyline established. Let's see what happens from here.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
We're starting to see a bit of attrition arriving as we get through practices, but at this stage none of the new injuries are expected to be significant.
The only players I didn't see in any capacity were WR Mason Tipton, RB Alvin Kamara, DT Christen Miller, DL Keeshawn Silver and DT Bryan Bresee. Kamara was getting a veteran rest day, while Miller is managing a toe injury. RB Kendre Miller (back), OL Jeremiah Wright (shoulder) and DT Zxavian Harris (foot) were all present and in uniform, but not participating. Harris is yet to practice as he works back from offseason surgery.
Saints head coach Kellen Moore also reported that RB Devin Neal left early with a hamstring injury, while LB Chris Rumph left with an ankle injury. WR Ronnie Bell was also led off the field by trainers after being poked in the eye.
Both RB injuries definitely register on my concern meter. The good news for Miller is that it's not an issue with his surgically repaired knee, but it is an issue that's caused him to miss the first three padded practices of camp. An inability to stay healthy has been the biggest issue for Miller in his career, and he's far from a shoo-in to make this roster. As far as Neal, this is at least the fourth different time he's had to miss reps due to hamstring issues. He was held out of a large chunk of last year's camp, missed the final two games of last season and didn't participate in minicamp for issues related to his hamstrings. The good news for Neal is he's had a pair of strong practices in a row prior to the issue cropping up.
The Saints are off on Friday. Hopefully neither of those issues linger, because the competition for depth RB spots is quickly heating up.
OFFENSE ON POINT
The second-team highlights were more impressive, but I thought the offense as a whole had easily its best day of camp on Thursday. Shough had some shaky moments down the stretch, but he started the day 6-for-6, a stretch that included a nice find of Chris Olave on a dig route and a 4th down completion to Juwan Johnson as the defense loaded up to stop the run.
Things came crashing down a bit for Tyler in the red zone. The QB went to throw the ball away out of the back of the end zone but left it a bit too shallow and Kool-Aid McKinstry managed to get a fingertip on the ball, tipping it to himself for a spectacular interception. On the next rep he tried to hit Devaughn Vele in the back of the end zone on what looked like a quick slant but it fell off his hands to the turf. Quincy Riley in coverage might've got a hand in to break it up.
Both the first and second team offense moved the ball well in the 2-minute drill, though it was the second team that got to celebrate with the deep TD to Brown I wrote about above. The situation was end of game with the drive starting at their own 35 yard line, trailing 24-20 with 1:40 remaining and one timeout. Shough completed two passes to Johnson to start the drive and pick up a key first down. Then he found Travis Etienne and Chris Olave for short gains, the second of which forced a timeout. On the next play he found Brown for a 15-yard gain on a comeback route, followed by a spike.
That left the Saints with 22 seconds remaining at the 30 yard line, feasibly having multiple shots at the end zone. Unfortunately the pocket collapsed on the next play and Shough went down for a sack. I have Nathan Shepherd noted as the player who got Shough down, but that's a bit of a guess. There were a lot of bodies in there. The Saints opted not to spike the ball and a heave into the end zone targeting Olave was picked off by Quincy Riley.
Rattler began his drive with completions to Kevin Austin Jr. and Ty Chandler to move the ball to the plus-46, then scrambled OB with 53 seconds remaining. He found Austin again for a 5-yard gain, with Austin dropping the next pass to stop the clock with 32 seconds left at the 41 yard line. For the second day in a row the offense then was penalized to turn a 3rd and short into a third and long, but Rattler and Brown's heroics on the next play erased that memory (I believe the penalty was on Oscar Delp).
Zach Wilson and the third team didn't get a 2-minute opportunity, but I also have to give a shoutout to Bub Means, who hauled in a beautiful backshoulder ball for a touchdown in the red zone.
I'd like to see the first team finish off drives, but all things considered I like the progress from the last few days. I also think we're seeing Shough make a clear effort to operate the offense in phase and focus on building concepts. We really haven't seen him do much off-schedule, and I'd argue that's a highly effective part of his game. I also think that's the right approach at this stage, considering the offense is still only halfway installed. Rattler, on the other hand, looks like he's playing way more free and we're seeing him carve up the second-team defense. This isn't a competition and we don't know how things would look if the roles were reversed. I'm not really interested in the argument about who has been better, but I do think it's a good thing that the Saints have a backup that looks very capable.
RUN GAME MOVING
A not insignificant part of why I thought the offense won the day is we saw a lot of efficient work on the ground. There was no Alvin Kamara, which meant a huge workload for Travis Etienne. He logged three catches and five carries, which means he touched the ball on nearly 40% of the day's first-team reps. Etienne is simply a high floor player. He's technically sound and always seems to be gaining positive yardage. That's what this team needs.
On the second-team without Miller we saw a lot of action for Neal, Audric Estime and Ty Chandler, all three of whom played well. I was particularly impressed with Chandler, who possesses some elite speed for the RB position. It was interesting to see Chandler and Estime go back-to-back on the same stretch run toward the left end. Chandler got to the edge with a burst of speed and got around the corner. Estime didn't outrun anybody, but he did put a violent stiff arm into a defender and found the same result.
You could make an argument for any of those guys to make the roster, and Miller's absence makes that argument a lot stronger.
KICKING UPDATE (oof)
Charlie Smyth avoided the type of slow start to his training camp that we saw last year, which has kept him as the clubhouse leader in the kicking battle (at least in my eyes), but he was on the struggle bus in this practice. After banging through a PAT, he then proceeded to miss from 39L (wide right), 45R (wide left) and 51L (wide right). He then rekicked from 39 and 51 and made those, but that doesn't erase the damage done by three consecutive misses. It was something of a nightmare scenario for a guy who had banged through 15 of his first 16 attempts and looked very consistent doing it.
He'll have plenty of time to bounce back, and Tanner Brown has missed a few kicks of his own. But it's definitely a missed opportunity. I felt like if Charlie could string together a few perfect days he might've buttoned this thing up early. Instead he just swung the door wide open.
- Tanner Brown: 16-18, 88% (misses: PAT, 39; long of 56; 2-2 from 50-plus)
- Charlie Smyth: 18-22 82% (misses: 39, 44, 45, 51; long of 54; 2-3 from 50-plus)
