Saints Training Camp: Notes and Observations from Day 17

The Saints practiced inside the Superdome in front of a strong showing of fans on Sunday, offering up some good action in the process.

John Hendrix | Aug 21, 2022

Saints Training Camp: Notes and Observations from Day 17 /

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New Orleans Saints

The Saints took to the Superdome for a practice in front of fans on Sunday. The team arrived from Green Bay early on Saturday morning following their preseason game, and got back to work for their final preseason game against the Chargers on Friday. Here's a look at all of our notes and observations from practice.

JOINT PRACTICES RECAPS: Day 16 | Day 15

TRAINING CAMP RECAPS: Day 14 | Day 13 | Day 12 | Day 11 | Day 10 | Day 9 | Day 8 | Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

ATTENDANCE: New Orleans was without several players Sunday afternoon. Taysom Hill, Michael Thomas, Pete Werner, Dwayne Washington, Alontae Taylor, Chase Hansen, Cesar Ruiz, Taco Charlton, Landon Young, and Adam Trautman were among those not spotted at practice.

Kentavius Street has swapped to No. 91. Devine Ozigbo, John Parker Romo, and K.J. Costello were not at practice, as they were waived. The team has to be down to 80 players by Tuesday.

MICHAEL THOMAS UPDATE: Dennis Allen said following practice that Thomas is dealing with a "little bit of a hamstring" injury. That's definitely not ideal. He wasn't around for the Packers game, so this is something to keep an eye on.

WALKTHROUGH LOOKS: The Saints rolled out a base 4-3 look with the usual suspects, but had one new addition to it. The defensive line had Cam Jordan, Shy Tuttle, David Onyemata, and Marcus Davenport on it. At linebacker, they had Kaden Elliss, Nephi Sewell, and Demario Davis. Sewell ended up taking first team reps today. The secondary had Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore at corner, with Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye at safety.

Dennis Allen talked about Sewell playing there today. He said, "Well, I just think he's a young guy that plays extremely hard, smart. He's instinctive. Look, we're kind of, we're just going to keep moving guys around and figuring out what that right 53 is."

Offensively, the Saints had a line of Trevor Penning, Andrus Peat, Erik McCoy, Calvin Throckmorton, and Ryan Ramczyk. Jameis Winston took all first team reps during walkthroughs, and also participated in 7-on-7 drills.

INTERESTING WRINKLE: Kirk Merritt worked at running back today. It seemed like it was just an illusion at first, as he took some toss outs early on in practice. He worked all sessions with the running back group, including 7-on-7 and team drills.

Allen said after practice, "I think we're going to take a look at it just a little bit. You know, he's obviously got experience in that position, so something we just wanted to take a look at."

STAYING STRONG: Wil Lutz ended up having his second missed field goal of training camp this evening, bringing him to 39-of-41 this year. He missed from 41 yards during his session, but drilled a 57-yarder to close out practice. Not much else really needs to be said about Lutz after the preseason game against the Packers, but it's good to see how consistent he's been.

7-ON-7: Jameis Winston got four periods of work in here, going 2-of-3 in each of his first two series. He then went 3-of-3 and 2-of-3 to finish 9-of-12 for the day. He hit passes to Jarvis Landry and Alvin Kamara on the first one, and then Kamara and Deonte Harty on the second series. His final rep during the second series saw him get picked off by Demario Davis, which got a good crowd reception.

Winston's third series moved up into the red zone, where he went 3-of-3 and then 1-of-2 after coming in for Andy Dalton. He started by hitting Kawaan Baker short, and then found Dai'Jean Dixon on a post route for a 17-yard touchdown. The other pass went underneath to Marquez Callaway. The second series saw him hit Rashid Shaheed on a curl route for a 5-yard touchdown. He was sacked by Nephi Sewell on the next play, but it was allowed to continue for him to find Chris Olave in the back of the end zone. Paulson Adebo had a pass breakup on Chris Olave on the fade route.

Dalton's first series saw him go 3-of-3, hitting passes to Deonte Harty, Rashid Shaheed, and a deep left sideline shot to Kawaan Baker. His red zone work saw him finish 2-of-3, missing the first post hookup to Juwan Johnson, then finding Kirk Merritt on an angle route, and hitting a fade to Dai'Jean Dixon working against Paulson Adebo for a 5-yard touchdown.

PUNT RETURN WORK: Jarvis Landry got some punt return work today. He was working with Rashid Shaheed, Deonte Harty, Chris Olave, and Marquez Callaway in separate periods. Many forget that Landry did this with the Dolphins. It may never come to him returning kicks, but he would be a safe fair catch option if something happens with Harty.

Speaking of punts, Tony Jones Jr. was getting some work as the personal protector today. We've seen that handled by Justin Evans, Daniel Sorensen, and Taysom Hill previously. It's something to keep an eye on, as we know Jones Jr. has really distanced himself in the RB3 race.

TEAM DRILLS: No Jameis Winston for these, so it was all Andy Dalton and Ian Book getting work. Andy Dalton went 1-of-3 on his first series, hitting Juwan Johnson deep over the middle after play action and booting right. Demario Davis broke up a pass to Alvin Kamara in the flats on the next play, and couldn't get Marquez Callaway on a deep left sideline pass with Marshon Lattimore in coverage.

Ian Book went 0-of-2 in his first series, with the first run play stuffed by Kaden Elliss for a tackle for loss on Abram Smith. Bradley Roby had a pass breakup on a deep right sideline shot to Rashid Shaheed, and the other pass on the third play was picked by Eric Wilson. It was intended for Tre'Quan Smith, and Wilson made an incredible grab and toe tap to secure the interception. Kirk Merritt got a run off the left side to close out the series.

The next series for Dalton saw him go 1-of-3 as well. Niko Lalos had a good tackle for loss on an inside run to Alvin Kamara to start. Dalton tried Chris Olave on a fade route deep on the left sideline, but Marshon Lattimore has tremendous coverage on the play. The next play went to Mark Ingram in the flats, and the final play saw both Juwan Johnson and Rashid Shaheed in the area of a sideline pass, but it didn't connect.

Book's second series in the drill saw him finish 3-of-3. He hit a slant route to Dai'Jean Dixon to start, then connected with Kawaan Baker off the right sideline for a deep hookup. He then went short to Lucas Krull on a quick pass to the right. The final play saw him get sacked by Tanoh Kpassagnon.

The offense moved into the red zone for their next set of team drills. Andy Dalton went 2-of-2 to start, hitting a quick out to Deonte Harty and then finding him for a 15-yard touchdown on a deep slant route over the middle.

Book came in to start at the 12-yard-line, and he went 1-of-2. He hit Rashid Shaheed to start, and Justin Evans ended up forcing a fumble that went out of bounds. The next play was a flip to the left side for a Kirk Merritt rushing attempt, but Niko Lalso was in position to make the run stuff. Book tried Chris Herndon in the back of the end zone, but it was overthrown and out of his reach.

Dalton came back in to work from the 5-yard-line and up. His first pass was a throwaway, and then he hit Jarvis Landry on a fade route working against Vincent Gray. Eric Wilson's pick might have been play of the day, but Landry ended up making a one-handed grab in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. He made it look effortless. The series ended with a Mark Ingram inside zone play for a score.

The final team series focused on clock work. Each quarterback had 1:15 to work with and needed to get a score in. Dalton went 4-of-7 in his series. Bradley Roby had a nice pass break up over the middle on a crossing route to start, but then Dalton hit his next four passes. Those completions went to Juwan Johnson on a curl, Marquez Callaway on a slant, then Deonte Harty on an out route and crosser. Dalton spiked the ball with 31 seconds left, and then saw a deep right sideline shot to Chris Olave broken up by P.J. Williams. Demario Davis ended the drive with a sack.

Ian book went 2-of-3 on his series, which ended with the 57-yard field goal from Wil Lutz. His first pass intended to Adam Prentice was broken up by Eric Wilson. He was then sacked by Niko Lalos, who had a pretty strong practice. He found Tre'Quan Smith underneath and then on a crossing route to set up Lutz's field goal.

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