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Saints Training Camp: Notes and Observations from Day 3

The Saints held the their third training camp practice with the media on Friday, and the fans get to join in on the fun tomorrow.

John Hendrix

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We're already three practices in for the Saints, as training camp is rolling right along. Tomorrow, we can expect to see fans in the stands at the team's practice facility in Metairie. Here's a closer look at what went on during Day 3.

Camp Recaps: Day 2 | Day 1

Notes and Observations

ATTENDANCE: Among those not spotted at Saints practice today included Taysom Hill, Tyrann Mathieu (excused), Sage Doxtater, and Tanoh Kpassagnon (NFI). Dennis Allen said after practice that Hill took a shot to the ribs yesterday and will be out for a bit. We noted that he left practice yesterday briefly and came back in.

Pete Werner (NFI), Juwan Johnson, Marcus Davenport (PUP), and Rashid Shaheed (NFI) came on later doing separate work with a trainer. 

Bryce Thompson and C.J. Gardner-Johnson both left practice early due to the heat.

SLOPPY PRACTICE: Dennis Allen wasn't really pleased with today's practice, as it lacked a few things. One of the common problems was around some bad drops from both receivers and running backs. Allen summed it up saying there were too many balls on the ground. For the most part, the defense was strong all day, but the offense really struggled overall.

OFFENSIVE ROTATION NOTES: Landon Young once again took the starting reps at right tackle on the day. The Saints had James Hurst, Andrus Peat, Erik McCoy, and Cesar Ruiz along the offensive line with him. Players among the first team rotation included Adam Trautman, Deonte Harty, Tre'Quan Smith, Marquez Callaway, Kevin White, Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, Mark Ingram, Alvin Kamara, and Malcolm Brown.

The second pairing of linemen included (left to right) Trevor Penning, Forrest Lamp, Nick Martin, Calvin Throckmorton, and Lewis Kidd when Young wasn't in the lineup. Penning did get some work as the primary left tackle during the final 11-on-11 period.

DEFENSIVE ROTATION NOTES: The Saints rolled out a nickel look for the first time in training camp, featuring Cam Jordan, David Onyemata, Shy Tuttle, and Carl Granderson along the defensive line. Eric Wilson and Demario Davis were at linebacker, C.J. Gardner-Johnson was in the slot, with Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore at corner. P.J. Williams and Marcus Maye were the starting tandem at safety.

Among the rotational players included Kentavius Street, Malcolm Roach, Zack Baun, Kaden Elliss, and J.T. Gray. Payton Turner ended up going opposite of Cam Jordan in the first 11-on-11 period.

7-ON-7: Ian Book finished out 4-of-4, while Jameis Winston went 3-of-4. Winston's first pass was a nice pass breakup by Paulson Adebo. Andy Dalton finished 1-of-4, with his first pass looking like it connected deep with Marquez Callaway, but the ball hit the ground. The best hookup came when he hit Kirk Merritt over the middle who took it in for a score. It was easily the play of the day.

11-ON-11: This is where things got a little sloppy. The offense was working on mainly run plays during the first period of 11-on-11, and most of the runs outside an Alvin Kamara one went nowhere. The Saints defensive did a good job of plugging holes, with good plays from Jaleel Johnson, Zack Baun, Kaden Elliss, Carl Granderson, and Justin Evans during the period.

The second portion saw a bit more passing, but started rough for the first team after Shy Tuttle blew up an Alvin Kamara run working against Cesar Ruiz (video below). That was followed up by a Tony Jones Jr. drop in the flats. Jones Jr. had another drop later and had a pretty tough practice. Winston finished 1-of-2 in this period.

Andy Dalton and Ian Book both went 2-of-4 in the second session. Andrew Dowell had a tip on a Book pass intended to Tre'Quan Smith that also saw Justin Evans break it up. Dowell had a pretty good day of practice, and Justin Evans also had a couple of flashes.

For the final session, Jameis Winston went 1-of-4. The first pass was broken up by Paulson Adebo (video below). That could have been flagged, but it was still a good play. Credit Kentavius Street for blowing up a screen attempt to Alvin Kamara. 

Andy Dalton went 2-of-4, hooking up with Adam Trautman with three defenders around him, and also linked up with Lucas Krull to provide an honorable mention as a play of the day. 

Ian Book went 1-of-2, hitting a wide receiver screen to Deonte Harty that went for a nice gain, the incompletion was due to an Easop Winston Jr. drop. The play before saw Albert Huggins provide pressure to help force Book out of the pocket, and the defensive lineman did a nice job to keep up with him. 

MICHAEL THOMAS: He looks as good as you can about imagine. You can see that he looks energized and is really striving to be the player we all know he is. The way he's coming out of his breaks and is running his routes has been something good to see.

PLAYER STOCK UP: Paulson Adebo and Landon Young were among those who had a really good day of practice. Young held his own against players like Payton Turner, while Adebo just had a solid day overall.

DOUG MARRONE IMPACT: It's hard to not notice how involved Doug Marrone is. He's practically in the huddle in between plays helping out with the offensive line. Some of things he preached on today was the tempo, getting better breaks out of the huddle, and preaching out the pad levels.

I had asked Dennis Allen about him at the pre-training camp press conference. Allen said, "He's tough. He's demanding, but yet, I think he's also been around enough that he's willing to do the things that it takes to get the best out of a player. Sometimes it's maybe not talking to him so nicely. Sometimes it's loving them up a little bit. I think that's what you get with a veteran coach like Doug."

His impact looks to be a really good one, and players will either get it or they won't under him. One other thing to point out is that Marrone was coaching just the interior during one period of drills, while Zach Strief worked with just the tackles.

ABRAM SMITH: Today was the first day we got to see a little bit more of the physicality from the Baylor back. He had a few good runs and was quite active. He's someone that we'll have to keep an eye on as we progress. After three days, it's tough to pass evaluations on everyone, but this was a pretty good sign for him.

CALLAWAY PLAYED HURT: Marquez Callaway said he had thumb surgery this offseason, was an injury he played through late in the season. Something he also mentioned with the players that got together with during Jameis Winston's special three-day event was that they worked hard. Winston was very structured and detail in his planning process, and the first day they were out there they did work on and off the field for 12 hours.

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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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