Saints Minicamp Practice Notes and Observations

Notes and observations from Wednesday's Saints minicamp session.

John Hendrix | Jun 15, 2022

The Saints held their second of three minicamp sessions on Wednesday, and it once again gave us a good bit to recap. Here's all of our notes and observations from practice.

ATTENDANCE/ROSTER NOTES: There's not much change here as to who wasn't out there. Taysom Hill, Michael Thomas, Rashid Shaheed, Marcus Davenport, and Payton Turner weren't out there today.

We told you that Shaheed and Taco Charlton were not spotted at practice yesterday, but were spotted in the locker room. Charlton was doing some individual work off to the side with trainers today, and Dylan Mabin (missing yesterday) appeared late to do some individual drills. Marcus Maye was the only player not participating today.

Jameis Winston moving around well pic.twitter.com/skKTizEC8i
— John Hendrix (@JohnJHendrix) June 15, 2022

Again, Dennis Allen said that players who aren't practicing are still here, as the team is at 100 percent attendance. Of note, Taysom Hill is also in the facility rehabbing. Some have been asking about him.

All tryout players (Alex Quevedo, David Johnson, Joe Schobert, and Senio Kelemete) were in attendance.

PRACTICE NOTES/OBSERVATIONS: There was plenty to take note of during Wednesday's session. Here's what we got.

Defensive rotation today in walkthroughs showed a 5-3 look with Cam Jordan, Albert Huggins, Shy Tuttle, David Onyemata, and Carl Granderson along the line. Kaden Elliss, Demario Davis, and Pete Werner were at linebacker with Marshon Lattimore at corner. Marcus Maye and Tyrann Mathieu were at safety. Alternates included Josh Black and Kentavius Street.
Offensive line consisted of the normal starting rotation: James Hurst, Andrus Peat, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, and Ryan Ramczyk. Alternate look in 11-on-11's included James Hurst, Andrus Peat, Forrest Lamp, Cesar Ruiz, and Landon Turner.
Bradley Roby was in a bit more today for the rotation at corner.
Could be nothing, but David Johnson was the third running back ahead of Tony Jones Jr. and Dwayne Washington in reps.
This was the first time I've noticed, but Pete Werner had an arm/elbow brace support on his right arm. Again - it could be nothing, but something to point out.
Tight end J.P. Holtz was getting some work in with Adam Prentice as a fullback.
Wil Lutz was in for a small kicking period, as the team worked on short kickoff situations after a penalty.
Kickoff team consisted of (left to right) Paulson Adebo, Juwan Johnson, Kaden Elliss, Bryce Thompson, Dwayne Washington, Wil Lutz, J.T. Gray, Zack Baun, Andrew Dowell, Daniel Sorensen, and Justin Evans. At one point, Evans held the ball for Lutz to kick it that produced a little bit better results on the short kickoff drill.
The Saints got some work in for lane coverage on kickoffs. One of those reps saw Kevin White juke out Carl Granderson and Tre'Quan Smith that got some good crowd reaction.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson was handling some punt return duties today.
Kris Richard was once again the primary play caller with the defense being out there.
Daniel Whelan handled punt duties today, and he was one who had a good practice. We've talked about him previously how pretty of a punt he gets off. We're not ready to call another punter battle coming, but it's hard not to notice him.
Watching Dennis Allen today, you can see he's not distracted. He tended to be by himself a good bit and focused.
John Parker Romo went 4-of-7 in his field goal attempts today.

7-ON-7: Jameis Winston finished 5-of-6 in the session, Andy Dalton went 3-of-3, and Ian Book went 1-of-3. On one of Winston's passes, it was intended for Juwan Johnson and broken up by Paulson Adebo. The ball hung in the air and Chris Olave had the awareness to catch it for a small gain.

Defensively, the Saints rolled out Paulson Adebo, Bryce Thompson, Demario Davis, Pete Werner, P.J. Williams, Tyrann Mathieu, and Marshon Lattimore.

Jarvis Landry and Chris Olave pic.twitter.com/Ev4dgYjioB
— John Hendrix (@JohnJHendrix) June 15, 2022

11-ON-11 STRUGGLES: The 11-on-11 period to close out practice saw both Andy Dalton and Ian Book struggle. Winston would have had an interception on his lone rep, but it was dropped by Paulson Adebo. Dalton's session saw him go 1-of-2, getting sacked on the first play by Demario Davis, overthrowing Jarvis Landry on the second, getting Tony Jones Jr. on a small gain after, and then Cam Jordan getting a pressure/sack on the final rep.

As for Book, he went 2-of-4. He got sacked immediately on the first play by Zack Baun. His first throw was short of Deonte Harty, but got him on the next play. That could have went down as a sack for Carl Granderson, and the next play he spiked it. The play afterwards saw him scramble after pressure from Malcolm Roach. Merritt had a nice toe tap on the left sideline with Alontae Taylor in coverage to close things out.

Speaking of Granderson, in back-to-back plays he got the best Trevor Penning. He still has some work to do as a blocker, and it'll be a huge focal point of training camp.

PLAY OF THE DAY: Andy Dalton had a pretty deep throw to the left sideline that was played pretty well by Alontae Taylor and J.T. Gray. However, Chris Olave was the star here hauling in the catch with tight coverage. Gray was down after the play due to the collision, left the field, but did return later to do some individual work. Smoke Monday went in for Gray.

We'll get one last look at the Saints on Thursday, and then we'll have to wait a little over a month before training camp.

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