The second and final practice of New Orleans Saints minicamp is in the books, and with it the official return of Cam Jordan to the practice field.
The franchise leader in sacks has always made sure to fully attend offseason workouts throughout his long NFL career, and he didn't miss his chance to join the team on the field less than 24 hours removed from signing a 1-year deal and after passing a physical. Jordan was limited in practice, as continued to be the case for several players in their ramp-up phase, and wasn't the only new face out on the field. The Saints made a flurry of moves along with his signing.
Signed
- DE Cam Jordan
- QB Hunter Dekkers
- K Tanner Brown
- WR Jalen Moreno-Cropper
Cut
- K Mason Shipley
- DT Coziah Izzard
- WR Damien Alford (injured)
Hunter Dekkers is a player with whom Saints fans will be familiar. He was with the Saints in camp last year and spent the season on IR. He then joined the Houston Gamblers of the UFL during the offseason, starting five games and completing 61.6% of his passes for 749 yards and 3 touchdowns. He operated as the 4th QB in his first practice back in New Orleans and didn't get reps in team drills, which was also the case last year. He was also wearing No. 18, which was unusual. That's the number he wore last year, but it's also the number currently assigned to Bryce Lance. At some point one of them will have to decide on a different number.
Perhaps the most surprising move was the signing of Tanner Brown, another UFL standout, who takes the place of Mason Shipley. We had seen Shipley kick a handful of times and he had been inconsistent from short range in those attempts. Brown appeared in 12 games for the Louisville Kings last season. He made 29 of his 32 kicks (90.6%) and was 8-of-10 from 50-plus, with a long of 60. It's still unclear just how legitimate of a kicker competition there will be with the incumbent Charlie Smyth, but Brown will be an intriguing player to watch when camp rolls around.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
It was a similar day of attendance overall. Here's how it broke down:
DNPs
- RB Kendre Miller
- WR Devaughn Vele
- WR Mason Tipton
- WR Bub Means
- RB Devin Neal
- CB Dalys Beanum
- CB Jayden Price
- DT Zxavian Harris
- DT Keeshawn Silver
Bub Means is dealing with a lower-body issue and could be seen working off to the side with a trainer. The Saints have been ultra cautious with any players dealing with injury situations to this point. I also spotted Keeshawn Silver and Kendre Miller looking on, but not participating. That was also the case on Tuesday.
WR Jordyn Tyson continued to have his reps heavily limited, but he did seem more active in this practice than we've seen previously. He participated in walkthrough-pace situations and seemed to be pushing that speed as much as he could. It seems pretty clear that he wants to practice. The team is being very deliberate with young players, which the head coach told us out front would be the case. I spoke with rookie DT Christen Miller, who had been held out prior to this week's practices, and he acknowledged that it's been frustrating, but the players do appreciate the intentionality of how the team has developed ramp-up plans for young players. We'll see how that all lands in training camp.
Chris Olave continued to be held out of team drills, but he was a full participant in everything else.
THE FOCUS
The Saints held Wednesday's practice outdoors and were working on red zone and 2-minute situations. It was another day with a significant workload. There were two sets of 11-on-11 drills with five reps in each for Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler and Zach Wilson. They finished out with 7-on-7 drills and worked on 2-minute situations during walkthrough.
I asked Kellen Moore today what prompted the heavier workload this year, whereas last year they held out until training camp for full team drills. Long story short: Continuity. The Saints are in Year 2 with the same system on offense and defense, which means they can hit the ground running. Virtually the entire staff is back from a year ago, and a majority of the roster is in Year 2. That's allowed things to progress much faster, and that's been the case in a lot of different ways. That continuity is one of the reasons I have high expectations for this team, particularly on offense. You'd have to go back to 2020 to find the last time the Saints went into a season not trying to incorporate a new starting QB, head coach or offensive system/play-caller.
TAKING ADVANTAGE
As noted above, here's the list of WRs who didn't participate in team drills on Wednesday:
- Chris Olave
- Jordyn Tyson
- Devaughn Vele
- Bub Means
- Mason Tipton
That's the top three names on the depth chart and a couple other third-year guys who should be ahead of the curve. It's frustrating for those players to be off the field, but it's also an opportunity for others to step up. So who has done that? My picks:
- Ja'Lynn Polk
- Bryce Lance
- Trey Palmer
- Ronnie Bell
All of those guys have had days where they've been peppered with targets. Today it was Bryce Lance, who hauled in two touchdown passes during red zone work, one from Rattler and one from Shough. I spoke with Lance after practice, and he knows he has a long way to go. There's significant development that has to happen between now and the start of the season. That's what made these early practices so important. The reps and targets will be pared down significantly when the full contingent of pass-catchers is available and each will have to be earned. Lance is building the chemistry now so the QB will trust him later on down the line. There's a lot to like with his blend of size and speed, and he seems to have a good head on his shoulders.
Palmer, Polk and Bell all seem to be in the same boat from a roster perspective. They are all intriguing, talented young players competing for what might be one roster spot. Bell has probably been the biggest surprise and he's become a strong favorite of Wilson with the third team. More importantly, he's caught all but one of the targets sent his way throughout these practices. Palmer's biggest performances came in OTAs and didn't see the ball much during either of the minicamp practices. He caught a pass early in the session and was the target in the end zone on a 4th down play that was broken up well by Julian Blackmon.
The player who has also had some nice moments that I didn't mention in the list above is Barion Brown. I left him off because I think he's going to have a role that exists somewhat outside of the traditional receiver. We've already seen the Saints incorporate him in gadget situations and his special teams skillset makes him feel like a lock for the roster, at least in my eyes. He had back-to-back targets from Rattler during the second set of full-team drills. The first was a catch. The second, a nice ball by Rattler to Brown as he raced across the backline of the end zone, sure looked like a drop to me. He left his feet when he didn't have to, and I thought I saw the ball on the ground. We didn't have a great angle on the action and it might have been a catch, the team definitely celebrated as if it was. If it was caught, it wasn't the prettiest of finishes. Regardless, there's a lot to like there.
WRIGHT BOMBS
Today was the second time we've seen Ryan Wright kick, and man was this session impressive. I wasn't able to time all of his kicks, but he was well over 4.5 seconds of hangtime on several and he had at least two kicks that he sent well over 50 yards. He also showed off some directional kicking. There's no question he's got the type of booming leg the Saints simply haven't had in a while. I still have some questions about his abilities on going-in punts (kicks from near midfield that you need to pin the opponent near their goal line) but that's because he hasn't really worked on that much yet.
LAGNIAPPE
Tyler Shough is planning throwing sessions with receivers during the downtime in July, and he's enlisted the help of Drew Brees to do that out in California. Shough said the former Saints QB was pivotal in setting up the location for the workouts and helping with things like transportation, though he was unsure how much time Brees would actually be in attendance. Two of Shough's top pass-catchers (Chris Olave and Devaughn Vele) are southern California natives. ... Ty Chandler fumbled a ball today, though it was tough to see exactly what happened. It looked like Jackson Sirmon was able to strip the ball and come away with it. Not ideal tape at this stage. ... Audric Estime continues to impress me. It always catches me offguard how elusive he can be at his size, and he made a few nice catches today on high balls. I really don't think it's out of the question he makes the roster out of camp and has a role this season. ... Oscar Delp had a nice moment, catching what looked like a touchdown in the corner of the endzone from Rattler. It'll be interesting to see just how the plan develops for him.
