Saints Minicamp: Day 3 Takeaways and Observations

The final day of Saints minicamp is in the books, and here's what happened at Thursday's practice.

Saints minicamp is over already, and now we'll have to wait a while before we get more action. However, it'll be here before we know it. Here's everything that went down at Thursday's practice with our notes and observations.

Saints Minicamp Notes and Observations - Day 3

ATTENDANCE

Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Anthony Johnson, and Cesar Ruiz were among those not spotted at the final minicamp practice. Dennis Allen said afterwards that Olave was not feeling well and is dealing with Achilles inflammation. However, it's not considered serious, according to Allen. Olave did show up at the end of practice to watch. As far as Ruiz, he has been in the building.

No changes in who was not participating with Kendre Miller, Eno Benjamin, Nick Saldiveri, and Miller Forristall. Trevor Penning once again went through team stretches, while Michael Thomas worked off to the side. Cam Jordan was present for stretching again, but did not take part in team drills.

One of the things Dennis Allen said regarding training camp is that he only anticipates one player being questionable for the start, but he's optimistic there. He would not say who it was.

ROTATION LOOKS

The Saints rolled with a familiar offensive line today after an interesting look that involved Andrus Peat at left tackle on Wednesday. From left to right, the line consisted of James Hurst, Andrus Peat, Erik McCoy, Calvin Throckmorton, and Ryan Ramczyk. With Olave and Shaheed being out of action, Bryan Edwards and Keith Kirkwood got more looks as the top receivers. Jamaal Williams, Taysom Hill, Tre'Quan Smith, Foster Moreau, and Kirk Merritt were all a part of the rotation in red zone work. The second pairing of the offensive line had Landon Young, Lewis Kidd, Alex Pihlstrom, Yasir Durant, and Storm Norton.

Defensively, New Orleans rotated a good bit, with their defensive line having Carl Granderson, Payton Turner, Nathan Shepherd, Tanoh Kpassagnon, and Bryan Bresee. Pete Werner and Demario Davis were at linebacker, with Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore on the outside. J.T. Gray, Tyrann Mathieu, and Marcus Maye all got safety work.

PLAYS OF THE DAY

Two plays stuck out today in 7-on-7, both coming from Derek Carr. Carr hit Alvin Kamara on a rub route working in the red zone where he was able to get behind Pete Werner for a touchdown. The second was right after with Carr hitting Juwan Johnson on a fade route over Alonte Taylor. They were both good throws and well-executed plays.

MORE MICHAEL THOMAS

Again, we saw Michael Thomas doing work off to the side during special team drills with the quarterbacks, specifically Derek Carr. Thomas was working on fades, back shoulder catches, toe taps, and even went to the ground to make some grabs. Thomas is making full-speed cuts and running about 5-7 yards during his reps. He's expected to a full-go by training camp. 

John Hendrix

John Hendrix

John Hendrix

QB PERFORMANCE

Derek Carr finished 3-of-5 in 7-on-7, and neither Jameis Winston or Taysom Hill completed a pass in their series. Winston went 0-of-4 and Hill went 0-of-2. In team, Carr went 6-of-9 and got the team into the end zone, while Winston went 4-of-4 and also got the offense in. Taysom Hill finished 2-of-6, but didn't find pay dirt.

CARR LOOKS SHARP AGAIN

The two-minute offense sequence was good to see here, as Carr hit on his first three passes. The first was a short one to Tre'Quan Smith, and then a comeback to Keith Kirkwood working against Marshon Lattimore. He then found Juwan Johnson over the middle for a big gain, and then Paulson Adebo had a nice pass breakup on a fade route. Carr came back after that on a nicely executed fullback screen to Adam Prentice. After a spike, Carr found James Washington on a curl route inside the 10-yard-line, and then capped off his series with a touchdown in the flats to Prentice.

Carr is making some really good throws and decisions early on, which is something you obviously love to see. 

WINSTON ALSO SHARP IN TWO-MINUTE

Winston's work in situational offense was also something worth pointing out. Winston got the team in the end zone after hitting A.T. Perry on the left side, who made a good move after the catch to pick up some extra yards. He then found Foster Moreau down the seam for a good pickup, followed up by hitting Elliss Merriweather over the middle for a good gain. The next play saw Winston keep the ball and take it in the end zone, but they ended up running the play again. It didn't matter, as Winston hit Malik Flowers for the touchdown.

Winston's movement has been pretty good so far, which is an encouraging sign. We're not expecting any type of quarterback controversy this season, but seeing Winston able to do these kind of things is a great thing to see.

SPECIAL TEAMS BATTLES COMING

We're officially entering a kicking battle going into training camp. Both Wil Lutz and Blake Grupe looked sharp today, as they made each of their six kicks from various spots. What you can appreciate about both of their efforts was the fact that we had a fairly strong wind today. They had three kicks each and then rotated.

Not to be overlooked, there were some nice punts from Lou Hedley out there with some good hang time. I'd still give the nod to Blake Gillikin, but I would expect Hedley to push a little here. Both had some really nice directional kicks and had some split work today. Credit the Saints for finding some players to make it interesting.

STOCK UP AND GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

A lot of focus is on Alontae Taylor, and deservedly so, but don't overlook Paulson Adebo. He had two pass breakups today and didn't allow a catch on three targets.

Big day for the Saints linebackers. Younger players like Nephi Sewell and Anfernee Orji made some good plays today. Sewell had a nice pass breakup on an angle route to Alvin Kamara, which is no easy task. Orji had a pass breakup on an end zone pass to Bryan Edwards. Both of these plays were in 7-on-7 with Winston at QB. Andrew Dowell also had a pass breakup working against Kamara on an option route when Hill was at QB in 7-on-7. 

Taysom Hill was working with the quarterback group again today. It's interesting that when he's there, he's getting the reps ahead of Jake Haener. We'll see if it keeps up during training camp, but Hill said after practice that he doesn't know until he gets to the facility of what his role will be.

When the Saints were working on some punts out of the end zone, Juwan Johnson was there as the personal protector. It could be just getting more guys familiar with the role, and it could be nothing. We'd expect Hill to be one of the main guys there.

Kirk Merritt is there to stay in the running back room. That's where he has been working and will continue to work. He has a really interesting outlook for the final roster, and I could absolutely see him making it as RB4 with his special teams work.

Lou Hedley was working as the holder for kicks from Wil Lutz and Blake Grupe today.

We'll have more from Saints minicamp, so be sure to stay tuned to Saints News Network for the latest.