What Saints said after Day 2 of training camp: On Payton Turner's rise, Callaway's role, more

Veteran Saints defensive end knows it's not his job to evaluate teammates, but he still had some positive words to share about rookie Payton Turner two days in to 2021 training camp.

New Orleans surprised many analysts when they took the former Houston edge rusher in the first round. But the early returns are positive.

"Man, I think he has a good motor. I think he has the intangibles. ... He has a great mindset of what he wants to do as he takes the field."

Turner looked very much the part as he stood next to his pass-rushing teammates. And he's easy to spot, standing at a well-built 6-foot-6, 270 pounds.

"As we get pads on, as we go through this training camp I'll be better able to evaluate how he's going," Jordan said, "but it's not my job to evaluate. My job is to get us better. Be the best that I can be so the next person can be the best that they can be."

An undrafted free agent entering Year 2 isn't who you'd typically look to as a veteran locker room presence, but this isn't a typical year for the Saints.

With Michael Thomas on the PUP list to start camp, every active Saints player that caught a pass last season is on their rookie contract. The team also brought in veteran Chris Hogan last week. So Callaway, in his second season, has become a valued resource to even younger players.

"They're showing us stuff that we haven't seen from them yet. Only thing there is is up," Callaway said. "All they can do is grow, and if we can help them grow, then that's doing our job. Because, like I said, we're going to need them this year."

Taysom Hill has taken first-team reps each of the first two days of Saints training camp, and the overreaction commenced accordingly.

But that's all part of the plan, Sean Payton said, as the team evaluates both Hill and Jameis Winston in the quarterback battle. He indicated in his press conference that it could be Winston getting the first-team reps when the team gets back to work Saturday morning.

"I think [Winston] is doing well," Payton said. "We’ve rotated first team reps each day. Basically, the first day of install we rotate 1s and 2s, tomorrow we will go back to rotating 1s and 2s and flip the rotation. A lot of it is install driven. He’s familiar with what we’re doing, and we’ll keep evaluating all of those guys each day."

Winston has been one of the most-watched players at Saints camp, and for good reason. The former No. 1 overall pick is a favorite of many to win the starting job after Drew Brees' retirement. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneer has only missed on one pass so far in camp, the result of his targeted receiver getting tackled while the ball was in the air.