Saints Training Camp Day 18 Notes and Observations

Day 18 of Saints camp saw a good bit of players missing, but there's updates on most everyone.

METAIRIE -- After an eventful weekend, the Saints were back at home on Tuesday afternoon to resume training camp practice. The team was in shells today and had a somewhat lighter practice. Here's all of our notes and observations from inside the practice facility.

TRAINING CAMP RECAPS: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | What We've Learned | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 (Offense) | Day 16 (Defense) | Day 17 (Offense) | Day 17 (Defense)

Saints Training Camp Notes and Observations from Day 18

ATTENDANCE

There were 14 players not spotted at Tuesday's afternoon practice. That list included Taysom Hill, Tre'Quan Smith, Bryan Edwards, Rashid Shaheed, Marshon Lattimore, Kirk Merritt, Smoke Monday, Ryan Connelly, Niko Lalos, Landon Young, Calvin Throckmorton, Jimmy Graham, Jesse James, and Lynn Bowden Jr. Edwards was waived.

Cesar Ruiz, Andrus Peat, and Demario Davis all participated in team drills, which was a big step forward for all three. Smoke Monday was excused today for a personal reason. Just of note, we haven't seen Tre'Quan Smith since Day 9 of training camp. Jesse James hasn't been in since Day 12.

INJURY RUNDOWN

Of the absences, Ryan Connelly is dealing with a fairly significant knee injury that is going to cause him to miss time, according to Dennis Allen. Niko Lalos is dealing with a groin injury from Sunday's game and is day-to-day. Darrel Williams left practice today with a groin, but Allen believes that he's going to be ready for the game. Lynn Bowden Jr. is also dealing with a groin injury.

Calvin Throckmorton got hurt during Sunday's game and is dealing with a rib issue. Kirk Merritt only played in three snaps against the Chargers and was previously dealing with a hamstring. Marshon Lattimore got hurt in practice on Friday during joint practices, but Allen reiterated that it was nothing significant.

JIMMY GRAHAM UPDATE

Allen declined to get into specifics regarding Jimmy Graham, but did say that they expect him to be back at practice soon, as early as tomorrow. The Saints expect him to be okay and hopefully be able to get back out on the field.

STARTING LOOKS AND MORE

On offense, the Saints rolled out their familiar offensive line of Trevor Penning, James Hurst, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, and Ryan Ramczyk. We should fully expect this to be the lineup when the season comes. Subs for Ruiz and Ramczyk were Max Garcia and Storm Norton. For the second team, we saw Lewis Kidd, Andrus Peat, Max Garcia, Nick Saldiveri, and Storm Norton.

Defensively, the Saints rolled a base 4-3 look with Cam Jordan, Khalen Saunders, Nathan Shepherd, and Carl Granderson on the line. Zack Baun, Demario Davis, and Pete Werner were at linebacker, with Paulson Adebo and Alontae Taylor on the outside. Marcus Maye and Tyrann Mathieu were at safety, Lonnie Johnson Jr. and Bradley Roby were among some of the subs to come in, with Roby moving into the slot.

Second looks on defense included Payton Turner, Malcolm Roach, Bryan Bresee and Tanoh Kpassagnon. Nephi Sewell and Jaylon Smith were at linebacker, with Alontae Taylor moving to the slot. Anthony Johnson and Bradley Roby were on the outside.

TEAM SERIES DETAILS

No 7-on-7 today, as we had three separate team drills today, one being in the red zone. Today's splits saw Derek Carr get six plays, while Jameis Winston and Jake Haener took three reps each. We typically see 12 team plays per series.

TEAM SERIES NO. 1 (CARR 2/2, WINSTON 0/1, HAENER 2/2): Carr's first play was a handoff to Jamaal Williams off the right side to get into the second level. His first passing play was a beautiful hookup to A.T. Perry deep down the right sideline. It was a great throw and catch, with Lonnie Johnson Jr., Tyrann Mathieu, and Marcus Maye being the closest around him. The next play saw Carl Granderson sack Carr after beating Foster Moreau on the block. New Orleans went backwards again after Cam Jordan blew up a run to the right with Alvin Kamara for a loss. Carr completed his second pass to Michael Thomas in the middle of the field on a curl route. The final play was a run to the right with Jamaal Williams with help from a nice block from Moreau.

Winston's first play saw him hand to Kendre Miller left for a small gain. One of the things that popped on the play was how quickly Bryan Bresee got into the backfield. He continues to pick up steam. His lone pass of the series was incomplete to Foster Moreau intermediate right. Moreau actually had to play some defense due to Zack Baun having a pick in his hands, but it ended up incomplete. The final play was a short run to the left with Darrel Williams.

Jake Haener completed consecutive passes to start his reps, hitting Darrel Williams underneath after play action to him. He then had a nice hookup off play action rolling to the right to Juwan Johnson. His ability to throw on the run is noticeable. The series and first team period ended with a short Ellis Merriweather run to the left with Jaylon Smith shredding a block to make the stop.

TEAM SERIES NO. 2 (CARR 4/5, WINSTON 2/2, HAENER 1/2): Carr handed inside to Kamara to start the series, which was stopped for a short gain by Pete Werner. He then had a toss left out of shotgun to Jamaal Williams that Carl Granderson blew up for a loss. Carr's first pass connected with Michael Thomas near the left sideline working against Alontae Taylor. 

A weird sequence happened on the next play, as it looked like there was some miscommunication. The play was a short backfield screen to Alvin Kamara that resulted in Nathan Shepherd stopping for a loss. They ran it again and it saw Carr hit Kamara out in the left flats for a short gain. Carr then tried Shaq Davis deep down the right seam, but it was overthrown. The final play was a deep hookup over the middle to Chris Olave for 34 yards.

Winston's first pass was a deep sideline connection to Shaq Davis down the left sideline. It was another great catch for Davis. However, this might have went differently with Jordan Howden getting there on the safety blitz and Lonnie Johnson Jr. having a shot at a pick (see notes on that). The next play was an inside handoff to Kendre Miller for a short gain. Winston then hit Davis again for an intermediate gain over the middle on a curl route with D'Marco Jackson and Nephi Sewell in the area.

Haener went with an interesting zone read run to Ellis Merriweather to start his reps, reminiscent of what we'd see with Taysom Hill. He hit Adam Prentice in the right flats on his next play working against Zack Baun. Prentice did a nice job staying up to get some YAC down the sideline. Haener's last pass was a deep attempt down the right seam to Keith Kirkwood, but didn't connect.

TEAM SERIES NO. 3 (CARR 1/2, WINSTON 1/2, HAENER 1/1): This is where the Saints went into red zone, which is a familiar setting they've done. Here's the sequencing.

Derek Carr (1/2)

• 15-yard-line: Complete, right sideline short to Foster Moreau (Tyrann Mathieu).
• 7-yard-line: Jamaal Williams inside short. He tried to cut inside, but it didn't work because of 56 (Demario Davis).
• 9-yard-line: Incomplete, end zone post route intended for Juwan Johnson (Tyrann Mathieu). Mathieu played this perfectly and got a hand on it to force a pass breakup. One thing I've noticed in camp is his ability to play strong in the end zone.
• 6-yard-line: Alvin Kamara run left outside short.
• 4-yard-line: Jamaal Williams run left outside for a touchdown.
• 2-yard-line: Alvin Kamara on the flip right (Marcus Maye/D'Marco Jackson). Maye and Jackson made strong plays to keep Kamara out of the end zone.

Jameis Winston (1/2)

• 15-yard-line: Incomplete, flats left intended for Kendre Miller (Nephi Sewell). Another good rush by Bryan Bresee.
• 12-yard-line: Kendre Miller run left short.
• 9-yard-line: Complete, curl middle short to Ellis Merriweather (Jaylon Smith).

Jake Haener (1/1)

• 6-yard-line: Ellis Merriweather run left outside (Nephi Sewell). Sewell had a tackle for loss on the play.
• 3-yard-line: Complete, flats left short to Adam Prentice for a touchdown. Jaylon Smith was the closet defender.
• 2-yard-line: Jake Haener keeper run right for a touchdown. Looked like Kendre Miller was his target on the outside.

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

• Kickoff team included (from left to right): Ugo Amadi, Isaac Yiadom, Nephi Sewell, Zack Baun, J.T. Gray, Wil Lutz, Lonnie Johnson Jr., Ty Summers, Juwan Johnson, and Johnathan Abram. It's important to pay close attention to this because some of these guys might just find themselves on the roster because of special teams.
• We mentioned that it wasn't as spirited of a practice as we were used to. Some of the defensive backs had opportunities to make plays, but it looked like it was a high-speed walkthrough on the offense's part. Seems like it was by design.
• Dennis Allen said both Wil Lutz and Blake Grupe have had a good camp. It's going to be fascinating to see what the final product will look like. A report emerged from Peter King regarding a potential trade, but we'll see if that has any weight come final cuts. Denver could be interested.
• Players like A.T. Perry and Shaq Davis are doing more in special teams, which is a good sign. Davis said that he played there during his time at SC State.
• Asked Payton Turner about his confidence growing. "I feel good. I feel good where I'm at. Like I've been saying, I feel like my confidence has just been rising. Coach Grantham keeps coaching me, guiding me. I don't feel super restricted, so having that freedom is just going to create confidence."
• Trevor Penning said that there were things that he could learn from Sunday and clean up some things from a technical perspective. He went into detail about the run play that people have been talking about. He said his fundamentals were sloppy, feet were too slow, and he was overshooting it too much. He said he needed to have tighter footwork and drive through the guy instead of going around. He said that it's nice playing next to James Hurst, talking about it being like he has an on-field coach.
• Saints legend Lance Moore was in attendance for practice today.