What Did We See During The First Saints OTA Session?

The first Saints OTA session is in the books, and here's a good bit of notes and observation from Tuesday's practice.

Spencer Rattler, Derek Carr and Jake Haener interact with Saints quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko at OTAs. / John Hendrix

We got our first access to one of the many Saints OTA sessions on Tuesday, which gave us plenty of goodies to talk about for the next week. As always, here's all of my notes, observation and more from what all I saw at practice.

Saints OTAs, Day 1 Notes, Observations and More

ATTENDANCE

Twelve Saints were not spotted during the open portion of OTAs on Tuesday. Keep in mind, attendance is strictly voluntary, and Dennis Allen said afterwards that he's aware of those who were not attending, whether it be for a personal reason or not. Stanley Morgan Jr., Jamaal Williams, Marshon Lattimore, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Nephi Sewell, Jaylan Ford, Nathan Latu, Ryan Ramczyk, Tanoh Kpassagnon, Nathan Shepherd and Chase Young.

Several of the absences were related to injuries, which we touched on this morning. Oli Udoh was working off to the side, while Nathan Peterman, Mark Evans and Tommy Hudson were not participating.

MARSHON LATTIMORE

We got some really good information on the future of Lattimore on Monday afternoon from Dennis Allen, and it sounded even more promising after another update rom the Saints head coach. Allen doesn't expect to see him before minicamp, but say that's not uncommon, going back to 2020.

Allen said, "I know he's working hard. I know he's getting himself in the best shape that he can get into, and so like I said earlier, when he's back, we'll embrace him with open arms and we'll start working on getting better for next year."

After all of the trade conversation, Allen said that he thought he was the time have a conversation. It was positive and the team looks forward to getting him out here. He also said that Lattimore is in the plans for 2024.

STARTING LOOKS AND MORE

Trevor Penning was at right tackle, while Taliese Fuaga was at left tackle. This was by design and the plan all along. Your starting look (from left to right) was: Taliese Fuaga, Nick Saldiveri, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Trevor Penning. Shane Lemieux also got the majority of the work with the first-team offensive line during team drills. The second grouping of the offensive line was Landon Young, Shane Lemieux, Lucas Patrick, Kyle Hergel and Justin Herron. Dallin Holker also ran with the first-team a good bit and was quite active today.

Defensively, the Saints rolled out a base 4-3 look with a line of Carl Granderson, Kendal Vickers, Khalen Saunders and Payton Turner. Isaiah Foskey also rotated in for Turner. Willie Gay Jr., Demario Davis and Pete Werner were at linebacker, with Paulson Adebo and Alontae Taylor on the outside. Tyrann Mathieu and Johnathan Abram were back deep.

SPECIAL TEAMS LOVE

Blake Grupe went 7-for-7 today on all of his field goal attempts, as we didn't see anything from Charlie Smyth or Matt Hayball. Here's the hangtimes for the Lou Hedley punts, and he got off some real beauties today after a bad first boot, including nailing some coffin corners and pinning some inside the 5 and 10-yard line: 3.4, 4.8, 4.3, 4.8, 4.46, 4.97, 4.69, 3.44, 4.47, 4.51, 4.82, 4.3, 4.38, 4.7. Ugo Amadi was working as the personal protector.

PLAYS OF THE DAY

Two plays of the day to talk about, with the first involving A.T. Perry. During 7's with Jake Haener at QB, he threw a deep right pass over the middle that was a little but, but Perry went up to get it and tipped it up with one hand and then made the catch after getting back to his feet. I wish we could have recorded it, but it was a thing of beauty.

The other play involved Chris Olave, who made a contested catch deep down the left sideline with some pretty good coverage from Shemar Jean-Charles. The Haener throw was a dart and was fit into a very tight window. It also was after a high snap to begin the play.

An honorable mention would go to Anfernee Orji, who stripped Jordan Mims late in team drills after a run to the left. Khaleke Hudson had the recovery and linebackers coach Michael Hodges and the entire defense was pretty juiced afterwards.

QUARTERBACK CAROUSEL/BREAKDOWN

Jake Haener was behind Derek Carr today, and with no Nathan Peterman practicing, Spencer Rattler was third. Here's the breakdown of each QB's day: Derek Carr (7-of-8, 3-of-4 in 7s), Jake Haener (7-of-8, 3-of-4 in 7s), Spencer Rattler (4-of-8, 1-of-4 in 7s).

HAENER IMPRESSES: Haener was quite impressive on the day. He looked sharp, having good footwork, accuracy and precision and also had good timing. He made some really solid throws. He was also involved on the two plays of the day as we pointed out earlier. The main takeaway here is that Haener shouldn't be counted out.

RATTLER STRUGGLES: Rattler struggled a good bit overall, as we saw a little bit slower pace during his reps in which the team had to get back to the huddle a couple of times and had a false start between 7s and team. That's probably to be expected from a rookie. He also had a couple of high throws and was picked off by Faion Hicks after a failed connection with Jacob Kibodi. The very next play he was nearly picked again by Isaiah Stalbird, who made a great break on the ball. One other observation was that no use of motion was used when Rattler was in.

OFFENSIVE TEMPO STANDS OUT

If there's one big takeaway from the day, it was the fact the Saints offense used a ton of motion and playaction. We knew this was coming, but to see it from the very start and also see it work was a thing of beauty. We saw tight ends, running backs and fullbacks all in motion in team drills. The zone runs and boots were all staples for the Klint Kubiak offense, which did not disappoint.

QUICK NOTES AND QUICK HITS

• Practice flow was pretty standard, as the team worked on a little bit of everything. They had some clock drills and kneeldown situations mixed in with 7-on-7 and team, as well as punt work.
• Wide receivers coach Keith Williams is going to be something for the Saints. You can tell that he's getting player buy-in really easily and he's extremely relatable. This might be one of the best hires no one will talk about this year.
• Starting defensive look for 7s included Alontae Taylor, Paulson Adebo, Johnathan Abram, Tyrann Mathieu, Willie Gay Jr., Demario Davis and Pete Werner. We should get used to seeing a lot of Willie Gay Jr.
• I mentioned Dallin Holker earlier, and his involvement was evident. He made four catches on the day, and on one particular play during team with Haener at quarterback, he went in motion and off playaction, Haener found him wide open near the sideline for a big gain. Holker Hive is here.
• Returner work included Jermaine Jackson, Rashid Shaheed, Chris Olave, Cedrick Wilson and Mason Tipton. Gunners included Equanemious St. Brown, Shemar Jean-Charles, Bub Means and Lawrence Johnson.

We'll have plenty more from Saints OTAs on our live Second And Saints Show on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. CT. Join us there!