Saints Training Camp Day 4 Notes and Observations

Saturday's Saints training camp is in the books, and we got see another good round of action from Dennis Allens' team with fans in the stands.

METAIRIE — The first week of Saints training camp is in the books after the team concluded practice on Saturday. It was absolutely the hottest day, as fans were in attendance once again. Players were focusing on staying hydrated more, having towels over them in between reps and drills, and taking a knee more. Here's a recap from practice.

TRAINING CAMP RECAPS: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Saints Training Camp Notes and Observations from Day 4

ATTENDANCE

Jimmy Graham and Jabari Zuniga were among those missing from practice on Saturday. Dennis Allen said that it was a veteran rest day for Graham. Ryan Ramczyk and Cesar Ruiz both returned to practice and participated. Michael Thomas mostly sat out of team drills today until the last series.

STARTING LOOKS AND ROTATIONS

New Orleans rolled out an offensive line of Trevor Penning, James Hurst, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, and Ryan Ramczyk to start in team drills. Penning and Hurst were the main pairing on the left side, but the team did kick James Hurst outside and rolled Andrus Peat to left guard. Max Garcia also got work as the backup center again. Bryan Edwards and Tre'Quan Smith got a little more reps with the first team today.

New Orleans had another nickel look defensively, with Cam Jordan, Malcolm Roach, Nathan Shepherd, and Carl Granderson along the defensive line. Pete Werner and Demario Davis were at linebacker, while Bradley Roby handled the slot. Alontae Taylor was opposite of Marshon Lattimore, with Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye at safety. 7-on-7 defense had Maye, Davis, Roby (slot), Mathieu, Werner, Taylor, and Lattimore. 

QUARTERBACK PERFORMANCE

We once again had three different sets of team drills. Overall, Derek Carr finished 11-of-15 on the day, going 4-of-6 in 7-on-7, and then posting 1-of-1, 2-of-4, and 4-of-4 in team. Jameis Winston went 7-of-12, starting 1-of-4 in 7-on-7 and then going 1-of-1, 3-of-3, and 2-of-4 in team drills. Jake Haener finished 6-of-8, going 1-of-2 in 7-on-7 and then 1-of-1, 3-of-3, and 2-of-3 in team. Taysom Hill did get two reps in between the first team series with Jameis Winston, but did not throw the ball.

SERIES BREAKDOWNS

7-ON-7: Derek Carr got things started by hitting Chris Olave on a crossing route for an intermediate gain. He then had a hookup to A.T. Perry on a curl on a play in which Alontae Taylor had excellent coverage on Lynn Bowden Jr. deep where Carr was looking. He missed the next one intended for Juwan Johnson, who had a step on Marshon Lattimore deep down the sideline. He came back to hit Perry on the next play for a short gain, and then found Taysom Hill off the left side for a nice pickup. The last play was a deep throw, which was a great one, to Rashid Shaheed deep. Isaac Yiadom made an excellent play at the end to be able to break up the completion.

Jameis Winston struggled a little on his series after completing his first pass attempt to Jesse James in the flats for a short gain. Rashid Shaheed then ran a wheel route out of the backfield that was incomplete. However, Smoke Monday would have most assuredly been called for pass interference on the play. The next throw was incomplete to Kawaan Baker after Winston had to move out of the pocket. The play was actually blown dead. The next one was an incompletion deep left to Shaq Davis. It was underthrown, and Adrian Frye almost had the pick on the play.

Jake Haener only ran two plays, with his first being incomplete to Shaheed after rolling out right. The coverage was good by the Saints defense. Haener completed the next one to Lynn Bowden Jr. working against Ugo Amadi and Adrian Frye for a deep post hookup that likely would have went for a touchdown. At worst case, it was inside the 5-yard-line.

TEAM SERIES NO. 1: Alvin Kamara started things off with a run to the left, and Carr's lone pass attempt was a completion to Rashid Shaheed. However, Cam Jordan made an excellent move on Ryan Ramczyk on what would have likely been a sack. Eno Benjamin had an outside run to the left on the next play and stiff armed Zack Baun to the ground that got some really good reactions from everyone. The final play was a jet sweep to Shaheed on a play where he evaded Cam Jordan and Ramczyk had a good block in front of him to spring him for extra yards.

Winston's only pass was a screen play to Kendre Miller with Storm Norton out in front blocking. This is where Taysom Hill came in on the next play, keeping a zone read inside to pick up a nice gain. Winston came back in to hand off to Jamaal Williams for a short gain. D'Marco Jackson had a good stop on the play. Hill came back in to keep again, this time off the left side for a nice gain. Foster Moreau had a great block on Anfernee Orji to help spring for extra yards.

Haener's series was all runs, and this is where the run defense somewhat fell apart. Kendre Miller had a big run in the middle after making a nice cut inside to start. Kirk Merritt followed suit after putting a nice spin move on Nephi Sewell for a good gain. There were two outside run plays to follow, with Ellis Merriweather finding success on the left side with help from Kawaan Baker's good blocking. The final play was an outside run with Merritt that was resulted in a good gain.

TEAM SERIES NO. 2: Carr's first play was a good hookup to Juwan Johnson working against Alontae Taylor. Payton Turner got the best of Trevor Penning on the rep to provide the pressure. Carr then hit Alvin Kamara on a swing pass short that saw him put good moves on Pete Werner to get some extra yards. The next play was a wide receiver screen to Lynn Bowden Jr. that was dropped. Carr's series closed out with a deep shot to Tre'Quan Smith deep down the right sideline, but he couldn't get it. Alontae Taylor displayed some excellent positioning on the play, following along with his eyes and hips to help force the incompletion.

Winston hit all three of his passes in his second series, finding Taysom Hill on a rollout right to start. Tanoh Kpassagnon had the pressure on the play. He then booted right for a short completion to Chris Olave working against Ugo Amadi, in which he was able to turn it upfield for YAC. Kirk Merritt's stretch run to the outside on the next play resulted in a tackle for loss for Nephi Sewell. Winston finished finding Tre'Quan Smith on a curl route to end his series.

Jake Haener also hit all three of his pass attempts. He started his series finding Kendre Miller for a short gain off the left side, and then ran with the ball on the next play, getting a good block from Jesse James on Ryan Connelly. Haener had a good hookup to Keith Kirkwood on the following play, and then finished by hitting Lucas Krull down the seam for a big play. Krull made a nice adjustment to make the catch.

TEAM SERIES NO. 3: Carr hit Olave out of the slot for a deep gain off the right side to start things. The play sequence was a little rough, as the snap was low where the ball was on the ground. Carl Granderson had pressure on the play. Carr then hit James Washington for a short game after some pressure from Nathan Shepherd. Carr then connected with Taysom Hill for a short gain on a curl. Carl Granderson once again had the pressure after beating James Hurst with an inside swim move. Finally, the final pass was a short one to Alvin Kamara in the flats that Demario Davis stopped.

Jameis Winston's first pass attempt was to Michael Thomas, which was the only rep for him in team. It was a fade route to the left side that was a bit underthrown. Thomas went up for it working against Isaac Yiadom, but was unable to get it. Winston then tried Taysom Hill, but the pass was just off his hands to result in another incompletion. The next play was complete to Lynn Bowden Jr., but both Payton Turner and Tanoh Kpassagnon were applying pressure. Kpassagnon was held on the play. Winston's series finished with a tight end screen to Foster Moreau for a short gain. I did like seeing Khalen Saunders close around the ball on the play.

Haener's final series saw him miss the first pass intended for Bryan Edwards after a pass breakup from Anthony Johnson. Kendre Miller then ran it inside, but Jack Heflin had a good stop on the play. Haener then hit A.T. Perry on a crossing route for a good gain, and then found Rashid Shaheed near the left sideline, who turned it upfield for extra YAC.

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

• Chris Olave was getting some work in the slot today. Would just like to reiterate that we also saw that play in which Rashid Shaheed was lined up in the backfield and ran a wheel route of it. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come.
• Blake Grupe hit all six of his kicks on the day, remaining perfect in this kicking battle. 
• I'm really interested to see if the pass rush continues when the pads come on Monday. There were some good things by Carl Granderson, Payton Turner, Tanoh Kpassagnon and some flashes from Isaiah Foskey on the day. Foskey might not have had a sack or pressure, but made two noticeable plays working against a lineman that we should be encouraged about in team drills. He has a really nice inside move to make a push to the quarterback.
• The Saints are showing early on that they're a better running team, particularly on the outside. This will be something to keep tabs on as we progress in camp.
• Tracked Lou Hedley's hang times on his punts for Saturday. For his 10 punts, they looked like this unofficially: 4.10, 4.93, 4.71, 4.63, 3.61, 4.05, 4.11, 4.50, 4.41, 4.90, 4.00. During these drills, the team moves up on the yardage for each kick, and punt No. 9 was a beauty that went inside the 5-yard-line.
• Kick returners were plentiful today, as Alontae Taylor, Lynn Bowden Jr., Taysom Hill, Keke Coutee, Rashid Shaheed, Kirk Merritt, Eno Benjamin, and Kawaan Baker all got some work during drills.
• Jack Heflin and Troy Pride feel like some early risers from training camp. I asked Pride about Joe Woods and Marcus Robertson's impact after practice, as we've pointed out some real differences there. "It's a full rundown of the tape. It's not just skimming through stuff and trying to get through it," Pride said on their very detailed approach, talking about being able to get coached and learn from mistakes instead of just skimming through them.
• Jimmy Graham met with us following practice, talking about how 'coming home' has been a long time coming. He also mentioned that he spoke to Drew Brees some, who was very shocked to see him back in New Orleans. They'll FaceTime tomorrow and plan to catch up.
• Foster Moreau talked about Clancy Barone after practice, who is the team's new tight ends coach. He said that Barone can read players at an extremely high level and called him the ultimate player coach. Some of the things he specifically pointed out was how he'll use different fastballs to use against rushers and different curveballs to use against safeties. "He'll kind of taper our individual work as we would in on a drive," Moreau said.