Saints Training Camp Day 21 Notes and Observations

The Superdome played host to the Saints for Day 21 of training camp, as it's the final practice before the preseason finale against the Texans.

NEW ORLEANS -- The Saints held Day 21 of training camp at the Superdome, as their preseason finale against the Texans is quickly approaching. Dennis Allen already revealed that Derek Carr and several starters will not be playing in this game, giving Jameis Winston the start. Here's all of our notes, observations, and much more from Friday's practice.

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) | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20

Saints Training Camp Notes and Observations from Day 21

ATTENDANCE

Chris Olave headlined the list of missing players, but Dennis Allen called it a rest day for him. Olave has been exceptional throughout training camp, so it's a well-deserved day off. No other changes on who was missing, as Taysom Hill, Tre'Quan Smith, Marshon Lattimore, Kirk Merritt, Darrel Williams, Ryan Connelly, Landon Young, Jesse James, and Lynn Bowden Jr. were the absences.

Rashid Shaheed did a little bit more today, not only working in short swing and out routes, but also fielding punt returns. He should be ready for Week 1. Calvin Throckmorton (ribs) also was limited, not participating in team drills.

STARTING LOOKS AND MORE

No surprises with the offensive line looks today, as it looked identical to yesterday.

• Trevor Penning, James Hurst, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Ryan Ramczyk
• Lewis Kidd, Andrus Peat, Max Garcia, Nick Saldiveri, Storm Norton
• Mark Evans, Nick Saldiveri, Alex Philstrom, Tommy Kraemer, Chuck Filiaga

On defense, the Saints rolled their nickel look to start. Cam Jordan, Nathan Shepherd, Khalen Saunders, and Carl Granderson were on the line, with Pete Werner and Demario Davis at linebacker. Bradley Roby was in the slot, while Alontae Taylor and Paulson Adebo were on the outside. Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye were at safety.

7-ON-7 DETAILS

Derek Carr and Jameis Winston finished 4/5, while Jake Haener completed both of his passes. This was on the defense's 40-yard-line.

Defensive Personnel: Demario Davis, Pete Werner, Tyrann Mathieu, Alontae Taylor, Bradley Roby, Paulson Adebo, Marcus Maye. Lonnie Johnson Jr. also subbed in, as well as Nephi Sewell, Jaylon Smith, and D'Marco Jackson for the linebackers.

Derek Carr (4/5)

• Complete, flats left short to Juwan Johnson (Tyrann Mathieu)
• Complete, deep left side to Michael Thomas for a nice pickup (Pete Werner/Tyrann Mathieu). Thomas ran a sweet route and simply lost everyone. He's picking up steam every day.
• Incomplete, flats right short intended for Alvin Kamara (Pete Werner). Dropped pass.
• Complete, curl right short to Jimmy Graham (Paulson Adebo).
• Complete, sideline left for an intermediate gain to Kawaan Baker (D'Marco Jackson). Baker was open and jumped up to secure the catch.

Jameis Winston (4/5)

• Incomplete, middle intermediate intended for Shaq Davis (Nephi Sewell/D'Marco Jackson). Davis tried to jump in the air to get the pass, and the pass ended up hanging up in the air after the attempt, but fell incomplete.
• Complete, drag right to left to Keith Kirkwood for a short gain (D'Marco Jackson).
• Complete, middle hook short to Kawaan Baker (D'Marco Jackson).
• Complete, flats left short to Ellis Merriweather (Troy Pride). Winston went through the progressions and checked it down to his last read.
• Complete, sideline left for an intermediate gain to Jontre Kirklin (Troy Pride). Nice grab by Kirklin. He's certainly impressed and could be a priority for the practice squad.

Jake Haener (2/2)

• Complete, crosser left to right for an intermediate gain to Shaq Davis (Adrian Frye). It was a good threading of the needle here by Haener, waiting until the last possible second to throw it.
• Complete, wheel left to Kendre Miller for a deep gain (Ty Summers). One of the best connections on the day saw Miller get open on the route and Haener throw a great pass.

TEAM SERIES DETAILS

TEAM SERIES NO. 1 (CARR 2/3, WINSTON 2/2, HAENER 1/1): The first series had the Saints working from their own 42-yard-line. Derek Carr's first pass was a deep connection left side in the middle to Keith Kirkwood. Carl Granderson had the pressure on the play. The next play was thrown into the dirt after Cam Jordan provided the pressure, winning against Foster Moreau. Jontre Kirklin was in the area on an attempted receiver screen left. 

Jamaal Williams got an inside carry left that saw Carl Granderson and Khalen Saunders make the stop. He got it again and got stacked up in the middle for the next play. Carr's final pass of his series was a deep right hookup to Keith Kirkwood off play action. Jordan once again had the pressure and Carr rolled right to throw on the run. It was a nice little hookup.

Winston's series started with an inside run with Kendre Miller that was stopped by Malcolm Roach and Bryan Bresee. One thing we noticed is Miller not wearing a knee brace, but the team was also in shells. Miller got another carry inside to the left that was stopped, with Tanoh Kpassagnon shedding a block to help get in on the stop. 

Winston then hit Shaq Davis off play action for an intermediate gain to the right side. Kpassagnon had the pressure, and Davis made a catch with some contact from Isaac Yiadom and Lonnie Johnson Jr. Kawaan Baker got a jet sweep left for the next play, getting to the second level outside. The final play was a check down to Lucas Krull for a short gain over the middle. He was the last read.

Haener's series started with a nice deep hookup to A.T. Perry on a middle in route working against Troy Pride. Shaq Davis got the jet sweep on the next play for a nice gain, similar to Baker. Haener did a flip out to the left with Miller (reminiscent of Drew Brees) that resulted in another nice pickup. Adam Prentice, who has been increasingly involved in the offense, got an inside run to the left where he got to the second level, and the offense followed that up with a run with Jake Bargas for a short inside gain.

TEAM SERIES NO. 2 (RED ZONE - CARR 2/2, WINSTON 1/4, HAENER 3/4): Here's the sequencing for each quarterback, as they all got to start at the 10-yard-line and work their way up.

Derek Carr (2/2)

• 10-yard-line: Complete, angle route middle to Jamaal Williams (Pete Werner/Demario Davis). They both stopped him at the 2.
• 8-yard-line: Carr keeper left. Carl Granderson applied the pressure, and Davis stopped him short from getting into the end zone.
• 6-yard-line: Delay inside left to Adam Prentice for a short gain.
• 4-yard-line: Complete, touchdown middle inside on the curl to Kendre Miller (Demario Davis/Marcus Maye).
• 2-yard-line: Inside zone to Jamaal Williams (Pete Werner). Werner made an excellent play to stop Williams from going anywhere and drop him for a loss. It was like what he did against the Chiefs on the 4th Down play.

Jameis Winston (1/4)

• 10-yard-line: Incomplete, back right end zone intended for J.P. Holtz (Lonnie Johnson Jr.). Nathan Shepherd had a nice pressure here, and the pass was off the mark. A.T. Perry was in the area. Alvin Kamara was also split out right.
• 8-yard-line: Complete, short left to Alvin Kamara (Ugo Amadi). Amadi made a nice stop in space on Kamara, which isn't that easy. Isaiah Foskey had a pretty decent rep against Storm Norton.
• 6-yard-line: Incomplete, back left end zone intended for Lucas Krull (Isaac Yiadom). Krull was ruled out of bounds, but it was close. Yiadom did a nice job in coverage against him.
• 4-yard-line: Inside run short to Kendre Miller (D'Marco Jackson).
• 2-yard-line: Incomplete, fade left intended for Jimmy Graham (Johnathan Abram). It wasn't the best pass here, as we would have anticipated a higher throw. Graham didn't exactly get super vertical on it either.

Jake Haener (3/4)

• 10-yard-line: Complete, check down underneath to Foster Moreau for a short gain (Jaylon Smith).
• 8-yard-line: Complete, screen left to Kendre Miller for a loss (Zack Baun). Baun made a nice read on this and was in position to blow it up.
• 6-yard-line: Incomplete, right end zone intended for Shaq Davis (Troy Pride/Adrian Frye). Davis actually had this for a touchdown, but the catch did not survive the ground.
• 4-yard-line: Complete, inside middle to Shaq Davis (Troy Pride). Davis did a nice job going up to get the pass, and there was also a defensive penalty for offsides on the play.
• 2-yard-line: Inside handoff to Kendre Miller (Jerron Cage). Odd play as Cage blew it up. It wasn't a clean exchange and Haener was contacted immediately but got it to Miller. It might have went down as a sack.

TEAM SERIES NO. 3 (CARR 3/3, WINSTON 3/5, HAENER 2/3): Each quarterback started from the defense's 25-yard-line, working on down and distance here.

Derek Carr (3/3)

• 25-yard-line (1st and 10): Complete, flats left short to Alvin Kamara (Alontae Taylor).
• 23-yard-line (2nd and 8): Short left run to Alvin Kamara. Carl Granderson had a nice rep against Trevor Penning.
• 21-yard-line (3rd and 6): Complete, angle middle to Alvin Kamara (Tyrann Mathieu). Mathieu was the closest here.
• 12-yard-line (1st and 10): Inside short left run to Alvin Kamara (Alontae Taylor/Nephi Sewell).
• 10-yard-line (2nd and 8): Complete, back end zone to Kawaan Baker for a touchdown. Carl Granderson had the pressure and honestly would have likely had a sack here. Baker was wide open.

Jameis Winston (3/5)

• 25-yard-line (1st and 10): Complete, sideline right to Jontre Kirklin for a short gain (Zack Baun/Troy Pride).
• 21-yard-line (2nd and 6): Incomplete, right end zone intended for Jontre Kirklin (Troy Pride). Winston went empty from the gun here, rolling right on the play. Kirklin caught it, but was out of bounds.
• 21-yard-line (3rd and 6): Complete, right middle to Shaq Davis for a deep gain (Johnathan Abram). Play went down to the 3, as Davis was fairly open. 
• 3-yard-line (1st and Goal): Inside middle run to Kendre Miller for a short gain.
• 1-yard-line (2nd and Goal): Incomplete, pass breakup by Tanoh Kpassagnon. Kendre Miller was closest in the flats. Weird sequence here where Kpassagnon batted the ball down and it went back to Winston, and then the two fought for the ball in what could have been a pick.
• 1-yard-line (3rd and Goal): Complete, touchdown left end zone to A.T. Perry (Isaac Yiadom). Nice effort from Perry here to go up and get the touchdown grab.

Jake Haener (2/3)

• 25-yard-line (1st and 10): Complete, screen left to Adam Prentice for a short gain (D'Marco Jackson). Jackson made a nice read and play on the ball.
• 24-yard-line (2nd and 9): Complete, curl left short to J.P. Holtz for a short gain (Ty Summers).
• 20-yard-line (3rd and 5): Incomplete, sideline left intended for Keith Kirkwood (Jordan Howden). Howden had a nice pass breakup on the play to get off the field.

TEAM SERIES NO. 4 (CARR 5/9, HAENER 5/8): Clock situation here with 1:40 left in the game and the offense needing a touchdown with two timeouts. This was the last period of the day, starting from their own 25-yard-line.

Derek Carr (5/9)

• 25-yard-line (1:50): Complete, flats right to Juwan Johnson (Tyrann Mathieu).
• 30-yard-line (1:37): Inside run to Jamaal Williams for 5.
• 35-yard-line (1:15): Complete, curl right to Juwan Johnson for 10.
• 45-yard-line (0:58): Complete, dump off midddle to Jamaal Williams for no gain. Granderson had a nice pressure working against Penning.
• Timeout.
• 45-yard-line (0:50): Incomplete, deep left sideline intended for Michael Thomas (Marcus Maye). Pass was off the mark.
• 45-yard-line (0:44): Incomplete, curl right short intended for Foster Moreau (Tyrann Mathieu). Nice pass breakup by Mathieu on the play, which also saw Granderson beat Penning again.
• 45-yard-line (0:41): Complete, deep right connection to Michael Thomas for 23 (Jordan Howden). Cam Jordan with the pressure on the play, forcing Carr to run right, but finding Thomas in the process.
• 32-yard-line (0:25): Spike.
• Ball moved up (unexplained).
• 28-yard-line (0:25): Carr run right. Demario Davis had the pressure on the play.
• 25-yard-line (0:17): Complete, post middle to Juwan Johnson for at touchdown (Pete Werner). It was a great throw by Carr, but the play really never happened because Tyrann Mathieu was credited with a sack.
• 34-yard-line (0:13): Interception by Paulson Adebo in the right end zone intended for A.T. Perry. 

Jake Haener (5/8)

• 25-yard-line (1:50): Complete, sideline left to Jimmy Graham for 5 (Jaylon Smith).
• 30-yard-line (1:47): Complete, deep left to Shaq Davis for 22 (Smoke Monday).
• 48-yard-line, defense (1:22): Complete, slant right to left to Shaq Davis (Ugo Amadi) for a gain of 10.
• 38-yard-line (0:57): Complete, left side to Jimmy Graham for a gain of 13.
• Timeout.
• 25-yard-line (0:51): Complete, short left to Ellis Merriweather (Isaac Yiadom) for a gain of 4. Yiadom kept him inbounds to make the clock run more.
• 21-yard-line (0:31): False start by the offense, timeout used to avoid a 10-second runoff.
• 26-yard-line (0:31): Incomplete, sideline right end zone intended for Shaq Davis (Ugo Amadi). Pass was off target, appeared to be miscommunication.
• 26-yard-line (0:26): Incomplete, sideline right flats intermediate intended for Jimmy Graham (Jaylon Smith/Ugo Amadi). Graham jumped up to try and get it, but a dangerous pass with three defenders around.
• 26-yard-line (0:22): Interception by Isaac Yiadom by left sideline near the 4. A.T. Perry was the closest receiver.

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

• Wil Lutz ended up missing his first kicks in quite some time. He finished 5/7, hitting his extra point and being good from 41, 42, 52, and 56. He was wide left from 46 (28, right hash) and 54 yards (36, right hash). It's worth pointing out that Lou Hedley was the holder here, and on the misses, the placement of the ball was not ideal.
• For Blake Grupe, he hit all 7 of his kicks. He was good on his extra point and connected from 42, 42, 46, 51, 54, and 59 yards out. The kick from 59 saw him hit the crossbar and it bounced in. Blake Gillikin held these. Grupe has had a strong camp, and this kicker decision still feels like tie goes to the runner, but I forsee Grupe on a roster in Week 1. 
• We got to see both punters today, and I still would lean to Gillikin here. He had some nice downed punts when punting into the 20, with some nice plays made by J.T. Gray downing the ball at the 1 and some others. Hedley had some good reps as well, and I also feel like he can land somewhere.
• It's going to be fascinating to see what wide receivers make the final roster. Shaq Davis has played well enough to garner a spot, but the final outlook might not be in his favor. Keith Kirkwood and A.T. Perry would get my other spots behind the big three.
• Interest looks with the NASCAR package and the Saints rushing three with Tanoh Kpassagnon anchoring the middle. Again, we've said as much that the team wants to get the best three rushers on the field in certain situations, but Kpassagnon was also playing inside with Bryan Bresee in goal-to-go. Keep an eye on how this unfolds in camp.
• Carl Granderson feels like he'll be the starter opposite of Cam Jordan, but I have to say that Payton Turner has had a really good camp. The Saints are in a much better spot with their edge rushers right now. Here's to hoping it stays together.
• While 7's were going on, we saw a bit of the 1-on-1 matchups between the offensive linemen and defensive linemen. Isaiah Foskey had some interesting reps with Storm Norton, but Norton did a nice job on each one. 
• We mentioned that Rashid Shaheed was fielding some punts today. In addition to him, Ugo Amadi and Jontre Kirklin were the returners.