Dennis Allen Takeaways from the Scouting Combine

Dennis Allen met with the local media in Indianapolis to talk about a variety of topics on the Saints and the Scouting Combine.

John Hendrix | Mar 1, 2023

Dennis Allen Takeaways from the Scouting Combine /

In this story:

New Orleans Saints

INDIANAPOLIS -- After speaking with general manager Mickey Loomis, local members of the Saints media were able to interview Dennis Allen at the Scouting Combine. Here's some of the biggest takeaways from speaking with him.

DEREK CARR PURSUIT: Allen talked about the relationship he has with Carr first.

"Look, I got a great relationship with him. I drafted him in the second round with fifth pick, and I think he's highly competitive. I think he's highly intelligent. I think he's got great work ethic. I think he's an outstanding leader. And so yeah, those are all the qualities that I like about him and those are qualities that we like in the quarterback position. So you know, we'll certainly let that process take place. But, we like the player."

Allen was asked about upgrading at quarterback whether it was Carr or not. "We’re in that evaluation process right now. What I’m willing to say is it’s the most important position on the field. We certainly want to do our homework there and make sure we’re making the right decision."

As we alluded to in breaking down the interview from Mickey Loomis, the team has Carr as their top player of interest right now. Things aren't necessarily on pause for the Saints for Carr, but that the QB spot is going a big piece to what the Saints do this offseason.

DEFENSIVE STAFF CHANGES: Allen talked about each and every single departure for the Saints defensive staff.

"Ryan (Nielsen) had an opportunity to go and be a defensive coordinator. I think everybody aspires at some point in time to be able to move up the ladder. You hate losing good coaches, but yet, you're excited for him in that in that opportunity. Kris (Richard) was a guy that I think was an outstanding football coach, but I just think we probably had a little bit of a difference in maybe how we view doing things and maybe some difference of opinion in terms of personnel and those types of things. Just felt like it was a good point to go ahead and move on and give him an opportunity to move on also. Cory (Robinson) was a guy that chose to let his contract run out and we had an opportunity to get a couple guys that I've been with before and have a great relationship with and have a lot of respect for in terms of their ability to coach, and so I wanted to go out and get Joe (Woods) and make him the coordinator and Marcus (Robertson) as a secondary coach."

ON JOE WOODS: "Smart, detailed, great relationship builder. And so I thought that was I thought that was important in that in that position. You know, and really kind of creating that coach to player kind of bond. I think a lot of times people say, 'Well, he's player's coach,' and that he's got this negative connotation that he's soft or whatever, and it's really more about taking a personal interest in each and every player, and I think Joe does a great job of that."

Woods and Robertson will work the secondary, while Todd Grantham will work with the defensive line. Michael Hodges will continue with the linebacker group, and Allen will oversee the defense. When he can't be in there, Woods will handle the organization of everything.

ON TODD GRANTHAM: "I love his experience. I like the fact that he sees the game, not just from a defensive line perspective. He's been a coordinator in our league, he's been a coordinator in the SEC, in college. I like the fact that he can see the game from a coordinator's perspective, but yet also he understands fundamentals and technique and things of that nature, in terms of playing the defensive line position. I think what you're seeing is schemes from college move up into the NFL, rather than I think there was one point in time where you felt like everything kind of filtered down through the NFL down into college. I'm seeing more the other way around where these schemes are coming from college and filter and back up to the NFL. And so, having a guy that has seen that, done that, experience that at the college level, that experience I think will be valuable to us."

PAYTON TURNER: Allen commented on his outlook much like Jeff Ireland did at the Senior Bowl. "Well, I think the first thing is Payton, much like Marcus (Davenport) is about being available. Dependability, availability, those types of things are important things for him. We drafted him in the first round. He's extremely talented, but he's another player that hasn't really had an offseason. He's another player that we we haven't really had a chance to work with him because of some of the injury issues." Allen thinks Grantham will do a really good job of of working with him and developing Turner, who enters a pivotal year.

SECOND HARVEST DONATION: Dennis and Alisson Allen made a sizable $100,000 donation to the Second Harvest Food Bank in New Orleans recently, which was the result of the Saints winning their appeal of the alleged fake injury

Allen was asked about this, saying, "It was just an opportunity for us to turn what I felt like what was a negative into a positive and do some good in the community."

Allen told Saints Senior Writer John DeShazier the story. "It all started when we got the fine letters from the league," Allen said. "We said, 'We shouldn't be fined for this, we didn't do anything wrong.' And then, it got Alisson and I to thinking, 'Well, we win this appeal, let's take that money that we would have given the league and let's do something good with that money.'

MEETING WITH PROSPECTS AT THE COMBINE: "It's really our first exposure to these players. Right now, they're just a name and a jersey number. And so, it's an opportunity to get a chance to sit down with them and visit with them and just hear their story. It's amazing when you hear these player's personal stories. We sit here and you know these players, they live their lives in front of millions and millions of people, and they're subject to a lot of criticism. Then you hear these stories about how they ended up. I mean, if I had to go through half the stuff that some of these kids have to go through, I don't know if I ever would have made it, you know, and so just the fact that they've been able to overcome so many obstacles to be in this position is pretty incredible. So, there's a lot of there's a lot of cool stories that come out of this."

Allen echoed what Loomis said about the scouting process, saying that they were just now beginning that process as a coaching staff.

LAST YEAR'S OFFENSE AND IMPROVING: "We did a good job of moving the football. What I don’t feel like we did a good enough job of is finishing. So, whether that would be finishing in the red zone, there were some opportunities, third down opportunities, that we could have converted. Maybe there was a drop here, a drop there. There were some inconsistencies in the way we performed offensively. Yet, I do feel like there were stretches where we moved the ball extremely well. I felt like we did some good things in the passing game. I felt like even with two or three offensive linemen being down, I felt like we still were able to function offensively, so I thought we overcame some adversity in those situations."

Allen continued, "The biggest thing for me, offensively, was just the consistency. Man, move the ball, move the ball, move the ball, go down and score. And then we have this large gap of, ah, you know. And look, typically it was one mistake here or one mistake there. It wasn’t like there was this collective, ah. There were very few mental errors, which tells me that our guys knew what to do. Now how do we get them to perform that duty a little better. Some of it is skill level. Some of it is just some focus issues."

KEEPING PETE CARMICHAEL: "The main reason why I wanted to keep Pete as the OC was just, go back and look at his track record. I think, look, Sean Payton, hell of a coach, great offensive mind. He’s been with this offense, he’s been the one common denominator with this offense the whole time. Even back to 2011 when Sean got hurt and Pete called all the offensive plays, I think it was probably one of the most productive offenses that we had here. So when you have a proven commodity that you know is good and can do the job, well why would I make a change and go through this rat race of the 13 or 14 offensive coordinators that — ended up looking for 16 offensive coordinators. We’ll see how those 16 do, you know what I mean? That remains to be seen. But I think we have a proven commodity in Pete, and I’ve got all the confidence in the world that he’ll be able to do the job."

TANOH KPASSAGNON EXTENSION IMPACT ON DEFENSIVE LINE: "Big. I mean, I think I feel good about where we're at at the defensive end position. I think that was a big deal to get that taken care of and now we can start to turn our focus into other areas."

One thing to note, from everything I've heard, is that we should expect Marcus Davenport to test the market in free agency. Defensive interior will be a big area of need for New Orleans as well, and it wouldn't be surprising to see them look to the draft to get one.

There will be plenty more from the Scouting Combine to report, as we'll track down and give you all of the latest buzz surrounding the Saints.

Read More Saints News