The first day of Saints training camp was a glorious session since it was held indoors, hidden from unrelenting heat. Cornerback Grant Haley was the only player we didn’t expect to be absent from the unpadded session, then found out he was not present because he is dealing with the death of his father. Prayers to the Haley family.
QB competition kicks-off
No real big news from day 1 at QB. Taysom Hill was taking all of the first-team snaps, but Coach Payton assured us that he and Jameis Winston will alternate.
Both played well. Hill found Alvin Kamara on a screen pass for a big play, but would have likely been sacked on another rep by Cam Jordan.
Winston looked very sharp, there is no hesitation as he looks very comfortable running the show. He managed to hit Deonte Harris on a deep completion for about 60-70 yards, where the safety bit on a pump fake.
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Corner a must
Coach Payton called the outside cornerback position a must at his opening press conference of training camp. Besides Marshon Lattimore, Patrick Robinson and Brian Poole saw snaps there.
P-Rob turns 34-years-old in September and has not played much due to injury the last three seasons, with a total of 531 snaps. While Poole has been used as a slot corner most of his career.
The team did work out Dre Kirkpatrick not too long ago and could still look at another option in Gareon Conley, who is a former Ohio State guy.
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Spence at OLB
Noah Spence hasn’t done much since joining the Saints at the end of the 2019 season. The former second-round pick has yet to appear in a game for the Black & Gold after missing all of last year with a torn ACL.
Spence did not line up at defensive end though day one of 2021’s camp, instead he was at outside linebacker. The 6ft2, 251 pounder has racked up 7.5 sacks, forced 4 fumbles, with 3 tackles for loss and 16 hits on the QB in the 41 career games he’s appeared in.