Saints OTAs: Observations and Notes

Here's all our notes and observations from the Saints final OTA session open to the media.

John Hendrix | Jun 9, 2022

The Saints wrapped up their final OTA session on Thursday, and we had plenty of takeaways from the practice session open to the media. Here's all the notes and observations from Week 3 OTAs at Saints camp, and we'll be back at it next week with the team's mandatory minicamp that starts on Tuesday.

ATTENDANCE: The Saints got back some key players for this week's OTA session. Among those to return included Mark Ingram and P.J. Williams, who were not spotted for the first two practices available to the media. Tyrann Mathieu and Albert Huggins also returned after missing last week.

Those who were missing from Thursday's session included Taysom Hill, Tre'Quan Smith, Deonte Harty, Michael Thomas, Bradley Roby, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Marshon Lattimore, Alvin Kamara, Taco Charlton, Demario Davis, James Hurst, Rashid Shaheed, Marcus Davenport, and Payton Turner.

Dennis Allen said after practice that he expects all the players to be present for mandatory minicamp next week.

PRACTICE NOTES/OBSERVATIONS: Tons of good stuff to dive into that was observed today during practice.

Primary offensive line starters included Landon Young, Cesar Ruiz, Erik McCoy, Andrus Peat, and Trevor Penning. Ryan Ramczyk did participate, but Young got most of the work today. Backup notes include Ethan Greenidge at left guard and Forrest Lamp at center.
Wil Lutz was back to kicking in some capacity, which is good news. He previously had some social media videos of him getting work in with Blake Gillikin and Zach Wood, but did some onside work today.
Calvin Throckmorton was getting some work at right guard in two-minute drills with the second and third team. He's someone who started 14 games last year in place of Andrus Peat, and is someone to keep an eye on as things progress.
The starting defensive rotation consisted of a three-man front that had Cam Jordan, David Onyemata, and Tanoh Kpassagnon. Eric Wilson and Pete Werner were at linebacker, while Paulson Adebo and Alontae Taylor were at corner. Bryce Thompson, Tyrann Mathieu, Daniel Sorensen, and Marcus Maye were in as well.
This could have been rotational, but Juwan Johnson was getting work with Jameis Winston and the first team in red zone work. Johnson started really hot last year, but then faded a bunch as the season progressed. Some of that could have been because of the quarterback play and other factors, but getting him going would be huge for a position that is somewhat uncertain.
There probably won't be a punter controversy, but again it's hard not to notice Daniel Whelan and the work he's putting in. In the same breath, there were some nice gunner plays made by Bryce Thompson and Alontae Taylor.
Sticking with special teams, Daniel Sorensen, Justin Evans, and Smoke Monday were all working as the upbacks during punt drills. The primary punt team consisted of Pete Werner, Nephi Sewell, Zach Wood, Kaden Elliss, Zack Baun, Andrew Dowell, and Dwayne Washington.

GETTING BACK TO STRENGTH: Marcus Maye went from not participating to walkthroughs to now doing individual drill work to get ready. This is a great sign for the Saints, as he's recovering from an Achilles injury last year. One of the other things that stood out for the second week in a row is that Erik McCoy was off to the side doing solo work during different periods.

COACHING FOCUS: The tempo set by Dennis Allen and the coaches was something to notice today. At one point, Allen didn't particularly like the way the offense was getting to the line in formation and made them go back to do it again. Kris Richard was calling a lot of the plays when the team was in red zone defense, while Ryan Nielsen was doing most of the other work. This could be nothing, but is an observation nonetheless. As expected, Pete Carmichael is heavily involved right now with the offense.

HIGHLIGHTS/PLAYS OF THE DAY: Kirk Merritt closed out practice by making a nice catch in the end zone from Ian Book. Merritt ran a fade route, and Book's delivery was perfect. The team was running a two-minute drill, and Book was pretty good operating in it. In the same period, Book connected with Lucas Krull on a seam route for a big gain to help set it up.

Kaden Elliss made a good pass breakup play in red zone drills on a Jameis Winston pass to Jarvis Landry. It was a slant route that got the defense going. He later made a nice play in two-minute drills against Andy Dalton that would have resulted in a sack.

Abram Smith got into the end zone during red zone drills after a a brilliant pivot route on Zack Baun. Smith's cut back quickly outside after going towards the inside and ended up getting wide open to score. Smith told me in the locker that they noticed the linebackers were trying to jump the route, and he made the proper adjustment.

Jarvis Landry made a sliding catch in the back of the end zone working against Dylan Mabin during 7-on-7 drills. The play before saw Alontae Taylor provide really good coverage on him. Both are positive signs.

PREMIUM CAM JORDAN: You can take this one of two ways. Cam Jordan is still producing at a high level, or Landon Young had some real struggles at right tackle against him. In three out of five plays, including back-to-back plays, Jordan had intense pressure on Andy Dalton working against Young. You could probably tally at least two sacks for Jordan here.

BRYCE THOMPSON: This is the second straight week that he has done several things that are hard to ignore. He got in some reps with the first team during walkthroughs. During punt drill work, he had a great gunner play in which he saved a Daniel Whelan boot from going into the end zone. During the team's final two-minute drill work, he had back-to-back plays in which he broke up an Andy Dalton pass intended for Adam Trautman and then another on Jarvis Landry during a curl route.

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