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Saints Training Camp: Notes and Observations from Day 6

What did Day 6 of training camp bring us for the Saints? Here's all of our notes, observations, and takeaways.

John Hendrix

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The Saints kept practice indoors on Tuesday due to the weather, which gave us a different look at things for Day 6 of training camp. Fans who had tickets today and were unable to attend today's session are able to use that unused ticket on any of the three remaining practices sessions (Aug. 8, Aug. 10, Aug. 11). Here's a look at our notes and observations.

Camp Recaps: Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

ATTENDANCE: The Saints were missing Taysom Hill, Tyrann Mathieu, Dylan Mabin, Rashid Shaheed, Marcus Davenport, and Payton Turner from practice. We'd typically get a better look if Shaheed and Davenport were working off to the side if we were outdoors, but they weren't spotted. Several veterans appeared to have the day off, but were present.

WALKTHROUGH OFFENSE: So far in camp, the norm in the offensive line rotation features James Hurst, Andrus Peat, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, and Landon Young. Ryan Ramczyk took all the starting reps in team drills. There's no competition brewing here, but they are giving Young opportunities to grow here.

Nick Vannett, Adam Trautman, Juwan Johnson, Adam Prentice, Jarvis Landry, Tre'Quan Smith, Marquez Callaway, Deonte Harty, Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, Kevin White, Devine Ozigbo, Mark Ingram, and Alvin Kamara were all with the first team offense.

WALKTHROUGH DEFENSE: No changes here, as the Saints rolled out their base 4-3 again. Cam Jordan, David Onyemata, Shy Tuttle, and Carl Granderson were along the defensive line. Pete Werner, Demario Davis, and Kaden Elliss were at linebacker, with Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore at corner. Marcus Maye and P.J. Williams handled safety duties again.

Subs included Malcolm Roach, Taco Charlton, Tanoh Kpassagnon, Kentavius Street, Eric Wilson, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Being inside does take away half of the space you normally see outside with two fields, so it's always interesting to see where each position group works at. Our view got a pretty heavy look at the offensive line. The linemen were split up into two groups, one working with Zach Strief and the other with Doug Marrone.

They'd later split off into the tackles and guards to get work done. You can really tell how hands on Zach Strief is and the smarts he brings in coach. Trevor Penning had a do-over on one of his reps, but it didn't come off as a bashing type of moment, more of doing it right.

While 7-on-7's were going on, the offensive and defensive linemen had 1-on-1's. Cesar Ruiz won both of his reps, which was very encouraging. Cam Jordan completely bested Landon Young, and not many will be shocked because it's Jordan. 

7-ON-7: Jameis Winston went 4-of-4 in his series, hitting two slants to Adam Trautman and Jarvis Landry, and then finding Devine Ozigbo and Dwayne Washington in the flats. Andy Dalton finished 3-of-4, with his lone incompletion due to a pass breakup from Alontae Taylor. He had great hand placement on the play.

Ian Book finished 2-of-4, but the first connection to Deonte Harty ended up getting stripped by Zack Baun. Bryce Thompson made a nice play on Easop Winston Jr. two plays later for the pass breakup, and Chris Olave closed the series out with a sideline catch for an intermediate gain.

11-ON-11: We got three different sessions here. The first one has mainly focused on the run, but Jameis Winston did audible on the final rep in his series that saw Paulson Adebo break up a deep sideline pass for Easop Winston Jr. The first running play to open the series saw Adam Prentice completely flatten Eric Wilson.

The second series with Andy Dalton saw things get really energetic. J.T. Gray took exception to a block from Trevor Penning which led to some pushing and shoving after the whistle, and it continued throughout the series. Scott Patchan looked to best Penning on a rep and ended up blocking him to the ground. They'd later lock up in the second session and both go to the ground after a hard rep.

With Book in, there was more spirited stuff after the play. Isaiah Pryor and J.P. Holtz had a little shoving after the first running play, and then Nephi Sewell had some shoving with an offensive lineman after the third play.

In the second session, Jameis Winston finished 3-of-3 on his throws. The final pass saw Kirk Merritt jump up over the middle to secure the catch against Bradley Roby, but that likely would not have counted due to a Tanoh Kpassagnon sack. 

Andy Dalton finished 1-of-3. We saw Paulson Adebo come up again the break up a slant pass to Kirk Merritt. Ian Book hit his lone pass attempt to Kawaan Baker, but again it likely wouldn't have counted due to a sack. Malcolm Brown got off a nice run the play before on a draw.

The final series saw Jameis Winston finish 4-of-4, connecting with Jarvis Landry, Deonte Harty (more on that later), Chris Olave, and Deonte Harty again. The third rep saw Winston rollout right and could have been counted for a Tanoh Kpassagnon sack.

Andy Dalton was sacked on his first play by Malcolm Roach and Bryce Thompson. He'd finish 2-of-3, hitting Dwayne Washington and Abram Smith. Taco Charlton looked to win a rep with an inside move on Penning, but he rebounded and was about to counter to push him to the ground. Of course, the next rep saw him go out briefly after a false start. He won the next rep against Patchan after coming out.

Ian Book finished 1-of-2 here, being sacked on the first and third plays. His first throw was a bad one to Lucas Krull, as it was behind him. Krull did what he could to get it, but it wasn't enough. His lone completion was an inside route to Tre'Quan Smith to close out team drills. 

SPECIAL TEAMS: We don't talk about special teams all the team, but some things to point out here in punt coverage was a particular rep with P.J. Williams and J.T. Gray as the jammers. They played it perfectly against Kirk Merritt. Kaden Elliss has some real speed getting down to the returner, and Kawaan Baker also had a nice individual gunner rep he won.

MICHAEL THOMAS: If anyone had a notion that Thomas was going to slow down or anything like that in practice, it couldn't be more opposite. He looks tremendous, and there's nothing in his routes, speeds, or demeanor that seems to indicate his ankle is an issue. Once he gets to working in team drills, then it'll be even more evidence that he's completely his old self.

PLAY OF THE DAY: There's nothing that stood out more than Jameis Winston's deep shot to Deonte Harty. He was working out of the slot against Justin Evans in 11-on-11 and was easily able to get behind him. The Saints defensive backs have been playing rather physical throughout camp, and Harty mentioned that in those situations that he trusts his feet. Harty has a big ability to stretch the field and will be a nice weapon in the offense with the others around him.

PETE WERNER: He spoke with us after practice. While he didn't want to get into the specifics regarding what kept him out, he did reveal that his groin has been bugging him. He added that he’s confident in team trainers and that they’re being smart with it. He fully anticipates to be 100 percent soon.

The Saints will be back at it again on Wednesday, which will be open to the media. Fans will be back on Thursday. 

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John Hendrix
JOHN HENDRIX

I officially started covering the New Orleans Saints & other NFL topics in 2011. My work has been featured on various outlets over the years. I worked closely with Skyhorse Publishing in Fall 2018 to update the book, Tales From the New Orleans Saints Sidelines, which filled in all Saints material from the 2013-2017 seasons. Prior to joining Saints News Network, I served as the Managing Editor of SB Nation's Canal Street Chronicles for 3.5 years, and before that with FanSided's Who Dat Dish as the Managing Editor for several years. I have also had experiences of being a freelance Saints reporter for The Sun Herald in Biloxi, MS and a contributing writer for WDSU, a local NBC TV station in New Orleans. I have appeared on a vast amount of TV and Radio shows, both nationally and locally. For tips, comments, or suggestions, please contact me at johnhendrix@saintsnews.net

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