It's always wise to lean glass half full in the early stages of training camp, even if it's not always easy to lean on perspective when the ball is landing on the ground a bit too often.
That's what we've seen throughout the first four camp practices when the full offense has lined up against the full defense. An example of a glass half full take? We've got a defense that is heading into Year 2 in a scheme with a majority of returning pieces, facing off against an offense trying to gel on the fly with a lot of new ones. What you want to see if points of progress, and I think we saw a bit of that on Sunday.
The Saints were forced inside due to weather, a bummer for fans who were hoping to be out there, and the full team drills were still a slog (more on that below). But when it came to 7-on-7 reps in the red zone? That was domination from the offensive side.
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www.audacy.comThe setup was four reps for each of Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler and Zach Wilson, one snap each from the 20, 15, 10 and 5. The Saints offense went 12-for-12 in terms of completions, and only the final rep by Wilson was one that didn't happen on time. I put an asterisk next to any rep where the QB took way too long to throw the ball in a drill with no pass rush.
Shough started his set with a plus-8 ball to Noah Fant up the right sideline, followed by a +8 ball to Kamara as he released from the backfield and broke over the middle. The next ball was a touchdown to Travis Etienne on a wheel route from the 10, followed by a rifled in ball to Devaughn Vele, who ran a quick hitch and boxed out Jonas Sanker.
Rattler found Barion Brown +5 over the middle of the field, then Kendre Miller +8 on a similar release from the backfield, but breaking toward the sideline. Next Rattler found Bryce Lance for a TD on a quick hitch over the middle of the field, then he extended a play and found Lance again for a TD in the back corner of the end zone.
Nice to see the rookie WR get in on the action and it was a splash of positivity for a group that needed it, and hopefully it's something to build on. In fairness, 7s should skew toward the offense without a pass rush, but red zone execution is difficult at any point with the field so compressed. I'll take the wins where I can get them.
Full team (11-on-11) was a different story. I had Shough 4-13 with a touchdown and an interception. Two of those incompletions were drops of varying degrees. Rattler was 2-4 with a drop and a fumble (wide snap then failed exchange with Audric Estime). There's a long way to go, and there's nowhere to go but up from those numbers.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
We didn't see any new absences on Sunday from the previous practice, but we did see a few players either back on the field or getting close to it.
The Saints were still without WR Ja'Lynn Polk and RG Cesar Ruiz for personal reasons. Ruiz has been absent as he welcomed a new child, while Polk has, as of Sunday, opted to retire from the NFL. We unpack that stunning retirement news here.
The good news is the Saints did see TE Cody Hardy get into full practice for the first time. Defensive linemen Keeshawn Silver and Zxavian Harris could also be seen in uniform and working off to the side with trainers, typically a sign that they're nearing a return to action.
The Saints will be back in action on Monday for their first fully-padded practice of the offseason.
WHERE THE WRS?
As noted above, the Saints offense hasn't exactly gotten off to the hottest of starts, but that's particularly true when it comes to the WR position. The Saints have only had Chris Olave fully participating for the past two practices, but he's still yet to catch a ball in drills. He's been targeted three times, with all three falling incomplete. It did appear that he caught one today along the sideline but he was out of bounds. The other target was broken up in the end zone by Quincy Riley.
Only one of Shough's four completions in full team drills went to a WR, and that was a quick screen to Jordyn Tyson. Over the past three practices I have Shough as 8-for-22 (36%) when targeting the WR position. Bear in mind my stats are far from official, I just think that tells the story. This offense will find a lot of production in the passing game from TEs and RBs, but it won't look particularly scary until 0, 12 and 14 get going on a regular basis.
STRONG DEFENSE
I do want to cut through some of the negativity above with the note that the secondary does appear to be playing very well. They're not giving ground. They're playing physically. DBs are getting to balls and making plays on them. Today we saw a pretty elite rep from Jonas Sanker in the slot where he rode Tyson to the edge of the field in the red zone and knocked a catchable ball into the turf. We saw Riley break up a pass intended for Olave, also in the end zone, and we saw safety Julian Blackmon step in front of a pass for an INT.
I'm eager to see how things look on Monday in pads. I've always felt like unpadded practices are tilted a bit to the defensive side, and right now it looks like they're taking full advantage.
BUSY BROUGHTON
It's not the first time I've written this sentence, but it's pretty clear at this stage that the Saints are intending to have second-year DT Vernon Broughton step into the void left after Bryan Bresee's ACL tear. Saints HC Kellen Moore confirmed that Bresee would have season-ending surgery. That declaration came less than an hour after a practice where Broughton basically never came off the field during reps with the 1s. The only time I spotted him coming out was when the Saints went to their NASCAR package with Carl Granderson rushing from the interior.
Perhaps this is just the Saints loading the young DT up with reps to catch up and there will be more of a rotation as we go, but there's a lot of faith being put in a player who only saw action in one game last year before going down with a season-ending injury. For now 2nd round pick Christen Miller is working mostly with the 3s. I'd be surprised if he doesn't work his way up that depth chart before too long.
KICKING UPDATE
Today was a Tanner Brown day, and he got the luxury of kicking indoors -- which always seems a bit less stressful. Still, he delivered, going 5-for-5 from distances ranging from a PAT to 49. We still haven't seen either Brown or Charlie Smyth attempt a kick from outside 50, but I doubt that fact survives much longer. Here's where things stand right now:
- Charlie Smyth: 10-for-10
- Tanner Brown: 9-for-10 (missed PAT)
LAGNIAPPE
Saints WRs coach Keith Williams loves to hand out nicknames. As we were walking into practice today he could be heard declaring that WR Ronnie Bell was now "Ronnie Bench," likely referring to the play on Friday when he inadvertently trucked rookie DB TJ Hall. Do with that information what you will. ... Chris Rumph continues to get reps at off-ball linebacker, which is a fascinating case study in Brandon Staley finding ways to maximize his roster. It was something I first noticed in OTAs and he's now listed officially as a LB on the roster. I don't know if that helps or hurts his chances to make the roster out of camp, but I can't help but imagine a scenario where he lands on the practice squad and gets elevated for matchups against teams that like to run heavy formations. That's when the bigger-bodied LB would make the most sense. ... RB drops are starting to irk me. Both Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller dropped breadbasket balls today, and when the offense is scuffling those feel magnified. Kamara failed to haul in another catchable ball later in the practice, but it was high so I can't call it a true drop. Either way, that's the third time I've seen a catchable ball fall off his hands onto the turf. That just can't happen to a player of his caliber. Travis Etienne also had a ball hit the ground, but I'd call this one a fumble forced by Pete Werner. Etienne was able to fall on it, but not a great look for RB hands across the board. Simply have to be better. ... Davon Godchaux says he's down 10-12 pounds from the weight he was playing at last year and said he feels much more effective. Time will tell how that ends up playing out. I asked if his plan was to take over Bresee's job of leaping over the line to block field goals. I'll paraphrase his answer as roughly "lol, no." ... The RB depth chart seems to be pretty defined at this point. Audric Estime looks to be No. 5 in that pecking order behind Miller and Devin Neal. I think the team keeps four, so that's an important line to draw. We'll see if that changes at all over the next month.
