There are a lot of goals for what comes out of a joint practice anywhere, but there's only one NFL team that forces you to test your mettle against superstar Aaron Rodgers.
That's Green Bay, and that's where the Saints have been all week as they got in a pair of spirited sessions against Rodgers and the perennially dominant Packers.
"I like it when we’re going against the Tom Bradys and the Aaron Rodgers of the world," said Saints GM Mickey Loomis in an interview with Voice of the Saints Mike Hoss. "You want to be tested. You want to see where you stand. You want to see how your guys react to really good players."
And Loomis is satisfied with what he's seen, also with the caveat that it occurred in the cool and comfortable conditions up in Wisconsin.
"I think it’s good for us in this environment to go against a guy of Aaron’s stature," Loomis continued. "You do get tested and look, I think our guys answered that test a couple times, and a couple times we got beat. It was good for us.”
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The Saints and Packers face off at Lambeau Field at 7 p.m. Friday.
MORE FROM MICKEY LOOMIS
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN JOINT PRACTICES?
“I think a couple things. You want to see your guys compete and obviously there’s a developmental aspect to it for some of the younger guys. There’s an evaluation aspect to it for our coaches and our personnel people. You want to see your core players, your established players flash and play and get ready for the regular season.”
IS IT GOOD TO GET A CLOSE LOOK AT ANOTHER TEAM'S ROSTER?
“They’ve got their scouts and they’re looking at our guys. We’ve got our scouts here and we’re looking at their guys. You’re always evaluating not only our players but players around the league, and obviously this is more up close than you get normally.”
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HOW DO YOU APPROACH ROSTER CUTS?
“I think the first part of that is cutting to 85 and cutting to 80. Those decisions oftentimes have a lot more to do with the numbers at positions in the upcoming preseason games than it does the bottom-five guys on your roster. I’m not a big fan of cutting to 85 and then 80. I think we should be staying at 90 until the final cut and then you cut your team, but that’s another conversation. It is difficult when you have more than 53 guys that you feel belong on an NFL roster. Obviously we have a 16-man practice squad, so you’re hoping to get guys through to get them on the practice squad. I like that we have these veteran exceptions and that we have the opportunity to bring guys up on a weekly basis to help our team. That creates depth and I think we’re in a good position in terms of having more guys that belong on an NFL roster than we have spots for."