The New Orleans Saints will finish their three-day minicamp on Thursday, following two days of competitive drills at their Metairie practice facility. Here are our takeaways from the second practice session (and you can find our notes from the week’s first practice here) as the team prepares to close out the week:
Competition heating up for CB2 spot
Alontae Taylor took first-team reps at cornerback instead of Paulson Adebo, which was interesting after Taylor worked in the slot primarily through OTAs and yesterday’s practice. He also played in the slot during team drills and gave some things up early including a catch by Chris Olave despite tight coverage. There was a point where I heard Dennis Allen call out to him, “You were right” on one of his reads after a rep. I think it was learning to trust his instincts there and he bounced back at the end of practice. He was in the slot covering Kawaan Baker and made a great play to intercept a pass by Jake Haener, reading quickly and jumping the route for what would have been a defensive touchdown in game action.
So it was a good bounce back from Taylor and just seeing his versatility all over the field. The secondary was working on motion plays out of the slot in position drills with Bradley Roby taking reps there. They appeared to be working on different coverages where either Roby would carry the motion player from the slot or hand him off. So I think they’re really just honing in on that role and its responsibilities. Allen did say after practice that it is one of the more difficult positions on the field, and that short reaction time is very essential. The route tree from the slot is more complex. There’s only so many routes from the outside but Allen emphasized the difficulty that goes into playing that role in the slot.
Taysom Hill practicing more often as a receiver than as a passer
I think the coachre really working on the mental side of all of those positions in the secondary and seeing what each player really can do to use them in in different situations. Having good mental processing is super important there. He put an emphasis on looking at what players can do and did point to, again, Taylor’s mental processing, playing on the inside and that with today’s offenses there’s less spread and a lot more bunches and stacks. They did work on that today. There was a point where Taysom Hill caught a ball when he was in a bunch set.
Hill was with the tight ends and catching rather than throwing today, and caught a pass from I believe Haener. He was working on special teams drills as well. I think people were jumping the gun a bit on his usage yesterday, and it’s unsurprising that the Saints are using his versatility again. It was good to see that he was back working on special teams.
Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave are the real deal
Alvin Kamara is really looking fantastic as a receiver. He ran a really deep route and I believe it was a back shoulder throw from, I believe Carr. The heat was really baking me from within today. Where he’s been used in minicamp has implied they’re really leaning into his receiver abilities this offseason. Speaking of receivers, Chris Olave has been fantastically consistent. He made an incredible catch early on in the day thrown by Derek Carr and with Taylor was in coverage and they got a little chirpy after that.
Tackling technique, positional versatility were points of emphasis
The linebackers and defensive backs were working on tackling drills and technique including some defensive lineman — I noticed Payton Turner. They were running at a bag and working on getting their head on the outside and rolling through the tackle to land on their feet without using their hands to push off the ground. Pete Werner and Alontae Taylor immediately had good technique. There were a few who had to do a few reps and it was interesting to see who immediately had lower-body explosiveness.
Something else that was interesting during 11-on-11 drills is that they had Andrus Peat at left tackle and James Hurst at left guard for a few reps. The secondary starting lineup that I saw had Taylor opposite Marshon Lattimore with Roby in the slot. Taylor moved to the slot in second and third team reps. Turner also had a sack on a two-point conversion attempt which was nice to see production from him that needs to be there.
Situational awareness also a key point
Dennis Allen said after practice that they were focusing on situational drills today and working at a fast pace. They were running up and down fairly quickly and he said at one point where they actually gave up, I believe that touchdown pass to Olave in the situation of what they were doing. They were down five with two minutes left and he noted he was mad because he was calling the defense on that one and they gave it up. But they had them go for a two-point conversion to make it a three-point game in the situational drill. Allen noted how you can’t re-do a rep but you can make the next stop. For that, they won the rep with Turner’s sack.
So working on that competitive toughness of okay, you just gave up a touchdown, how are you gonna respond in the game setting if they immediately go for two points? And instilling those situational things this early on and emphasizing they are trying out a lot of guys at different roles. That’s what you’re supposed to use this time for. This is the time where you try out those things and see what kind of works and we’re seeing them be a little more creative each day.
