Welcome to another episode of "As the Knee Turns." In this episode, our main character, Deuce, suffers a minor setback and must miss morning practice to have an MRI taken. As bad luck would have it, at that very moment, the Oakland Raiders were cutting ties with running back Lamont Jordan, leaving everyone, including the Saints front office to wonder if Jordan was really what this team needed and whether Deuce would be forced to make an early exit. Luck was on our hero's side however, as his MRI results were negative and Jordan declined an offer, and he was able to make a triumphant return to the practice fields that very afternoon, never knowing how close he had come to being replaced. Don't miss the next episode of "As the Knee Turns," when cornerback Mike McKenzie's recovery takes longer than expected and Jason David sleeps with his wife.

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Again, per the Times-Pic.

The Saints have released tight end Eric Johnson. The eighth-year veteran has been unable to compete for a roster spot throughout the summer because of a lingering ankle injury, and he became expendable when New Orleans traded for Jeremy Shockey this week.

Johnson will be replaced on the roster by rookie cornerback Tracy Porter, who just finalized his contract with the team.

Things are getting crazy huh?

Larry Holder's blog has a good summation of the action early this morning.

- The Saints touched on special teams for a chunk of the Friday morning practice. Reggie Bush, Lance Moore and Skyler Green fielded punts and Bush had the most trouble fielding kicks. Bush dropped two punts - one where he badly misjudged the ball causing him to drop the ball and the other he simply muffed the catch.

- If Tracy Porter would have been in camp, he likely would have been back there as well.

- Devery Henderson and Adrian Arrington both lined up as gunners on special teams. A receiver spot on this team could come down between those two players and special teams ability will play a part in deciding who takes the roster spot.

- Rookie Carl Nicks took snaps with the second team at left tackle as Jermon Bushrod filled in for Jammal Brown with the first team. Brown missed the A.M. and will miss the P.M. as he's attending a funeral.

- TE Jeremy Shockey, DT Brian Young and RB Deuce McAllister fully participated this morning. All three were at least limited in yesterday's P.M. practice.

- Those who didn't practice at all were CB Mike McKenzie (knee), S Josh Bullocks (knee), TE Eric Johnson (ankle), DT Sedrick Ellis (contract) and Porter (contract).

- CB Jason Craft and S Tuff Harris made a couple of nice interceptions. Craft picked off Mark Brunell for a pass intended for Shockey. Harris undercut a Shockey route to snatch away a Tyler Palko offering.

- The linemen conducted some pretty physical one-on-one drills. DT Orien Harris and G Jahri Evans had to of the better overall efforts in the drills. Rookie DT DeMario Pressley seemed like he couldn't get by anyone, while T Jon Stinchcomb struggled for much the portion.

- G Andy Alleman didn't have his best practice of his career. The second-year guard got beat on nearly every snap during the one-on-ones and he jump offsides during the team portion of practice.

The Times-Pic had a quick run down of some of the mornings events.

"Like I said, I'm just trying to work like I'm trying to make the team," said Shockey, who is also trying to shake off the rust physically after missing the entire offseason program in New York while recovering from a broken leg. "I'm getting there. I'll keep getting better."

The Times-Pic also had a short piece on the status of Deuce.

"I'm probably about four or five pounds away from where I want to be as far as the season is concerned," McAllister said. "It's just trying to get myself as light as possible, to take off as much pressure as possible on the knees and then just try to get some of that quickness back."

McAllister gave his first day of training camp a 'B.'

"I have to prove that at age 29, coming off two knee surgeries, that I'm still a viable option for this team," McAllister said.

Sports Illustrated thinks the Saints offense, with the new addition of Shockey, is so good its scary!

"This is a great move by them," said an NFC personnel director. "Adding a top notch tight end to a lineup that features Reggie Bush, Marques Colston, Drew Brees and Deuce McAllister makes an already potent offense very scary."

"He may be a bit of headache in the locker room," said a NFC personnel director. "But there is no doubt he still one of the most talented tight ends in the league."

"They didn't have a threat down the middle of the field, so defenses were able to limit their big-play opportunities by using more two-deep coverage," said a NFC personnel director. "With Shockey running down the middle, Brees should have more chances to attack down the field."

"They may have the most complete offense in the NFC," said an NFC personnel director. "They have the ability to beat you a number of ways and Drew Brees is a patient enough to take what the defense gives him. If Deuce can give them something in the running game, they will be very difficult defend with all of the offensive firepower that they possess. "

This is the part where I get goosebumps!

ESPN is continuing the positive talk about Adrian Arrington and wonders, like the rest of us, if he is the next Colston.

It was only one catch, but it was enough to make you wonder if the Saints have tapped the secret to drafting wide receivers in the seventh round.

I am keeping my fingers crossed.

The guys over at Football Outsiders have put together a couple of lists. The first one is a top 10 list of the greatest games by a quarterback from 1995-2007. You better believe Drew mad the list at #7 with the game last year against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Another player getting a boost from opponent adjustments is Drew Brees. Nobody really noticed when Brees went nuts on the Jaguars last year, because he did it at the same time Adrian Peterson was setting the all-time rushing record against San Diego, and then both performances were overshadowed later that afternoon by the Game of the Century. Brees would not be anywhere near the top ten without opponent adjustments, but the quality of the Jaguars’ defense pushes this game up from 244 YAR to 295 DYAR.

They also put together a list of the top 20 running back games and our very own Pierre Thomas happened to make his way on that list in the 14th spot.

The always underrated Brian Westbrook shows up twice in the top ten with games from last year; that appearance is no surprise, but Pierre Thomas’s appearance certainly is. His Week 17 game against Chicago was a testament to efficiency. Ten of his 20 carries gained six or more yards. Eleven of his 12 receptions gained eight or more yards. Between rushing and receiving, Thomas had 15 first downs and a touchdown, and he would rank even higher if he had not been stuffed twice at the goal line.

I guess I have to start off with something about Shockey.

First of all, Shockey will be wearing #88 for the black and gold this season. You'll have to jump for the rest, and it is quite a lot.

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Suffering from Shockey hangover? CSC has got your cure. More Shockey!

I have put together everything I could find about the man. There were some I simply left out because of redundancy. You should all be Shockey experts by the end of this.

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Back to your regularly scheduled programming today. Thanks for bearing with me this weekend. It is hard work trying to figure out what 19 year old girls want to buy.

Looks like good news for Pierre fans like myself. Information coming from the Times-Pic. Coach Payton praises him yet again...

"Pierre is someone who blocks the pressure real well," Payton said. "That's a strength of his. He's so smart. You need that in the nickel because of the looks we get. We get a lot more complex looks in third-down or long-yardage situations than we would in the base. From a running back standpoint, you've got to be smart to see what's going on."

The kid himself spoke as well.

"Like I said last year," Thomas said, "any way possible for me to get on that field, I'm getting on that field. Special teams, or it's on the offensive side, anyway they need me, I'm going to be there. I'm going to give it my all wherever they put me, wherever I'm at."

"I'm getting there with the ones," Thomas said. "Coach is rotating us in there with the ones so we get a feel of where we're at, because right now nobody has a place. Everybody is fighting for a spot. The depth chart is not set yet and probably won't be until we get into the season.

"I've still got a way to fight, just like everybody has a way to fight. That's what I'm going to keep doing. I'm going to fight just like last year. I was fighting to get a position to get on the team. I'm going to fight again."

If you're not on this bandwagon yet, I suggest you climb aboard. This kid is gonna take off.

The Times-Pic had an article about Mark Simoneau and his resilience and hard working attitude. For the second year in a row, Simoneau must battle against a new middle linebacker brought in to supplant him.

"I'm kind of looking at it the same way (as last season), as far as trying to take care of what I can take care of," Simoneau said. "Obviously, Jonathan (Vilma) is a great player, and he's going to bring a lot to this team. It's just a situation where I'm just going to try to get better every day and help this team as much as I can."

"I've been in the system two years now," he said. "In this camp, I have a better feel for my angles on certain plays, just being comfortable in the system. That's definitely an advantage, just time in the system."

"You can only control yourself," he said. "I guess sometimes you're trying to look on the outside, see what everybody else is thinking and how they're evaluating everything.

"If you do that you lose focus on what your job is, and (your job) basically is just to get better. If you're focusing on those other things, you're not getting better, and you're going to have no chance in the end. That's my mindset, just to worry about playing better myself. And hopefully, that'll take care of it."

Coach Payton thinks highly of him.

"He's doing well," Coach Sean Payton said of Simoneau. "He's been here the whole offseason, he's one of those guys who's pretty diligent about taking care of his body.

"The best thing is, there's competition there. (And) we go by what we see. When it comes to Mark, he certainly has responded to that. He understands that. It's no different than it is for some players at other positions."

I think we can put the Shockey rumors to bed. Ahhhh. Remember those days? The Sun-Herald had a story about the tight end position. Seems the Saints are sticking with that they have.

"That's the group we're going to battle with," Saints coach Sean Payton said following the team's final minicamp practice on Sunday. "The key is the health of some of those guys, and I'm anxious to see the young guys as well."

Eric Johnson is recovering from an injury but should be fine.

"It was an offseason injury which is something that is really frustrating," Johnson said. "I'm just waiting for it to heal up. Just want to work through it, but there's not really much I can do about it right now. I should be ready for training. I'll have about a month to really go out there and run before training camp."

Mark Campbell has his work cut out for him.

"This is my 10th year and I feel like I have to compete every year," Campbell said. "I have to go out there as hard as I can. There's no room for complacency. I don't think you can stick around if you are a complacent guy."

"We've had four OTAs and now the minicamp," Campbell said. "I'm not going to come out and be where I was at before. I'm seeing some progress, but I've got to knock some of that rust off. I learn as I play so it's starting to come back to me now. Really by the time we finish these OTAs, I'll be full strength. And as far as my injury is concerned, it's like it never happened."

This one  from Houma Today is actually from yesterday. Its a long in-depth history of defensive line coach Ed Orgeron. "BeBe" had some words of wisdom to share with us.

“When we grew up the skilled people in football were the running backs, wide receivers and quarterbacks, but in today’s world it has to be the defensive linemen,” the new Saints defensive line coach said. “The dominant defensive linemen are very hard to acquire, and you just can’t find those guys in any kind of numbers at both the college and professional level. I am very fortunate to come here with the Saints and have some real strong talent to work with.”

“I preach being quick. Quickness is the biggest attribute I look for in a defensive lineman. To be disruptive and get into the backfield, or even to stop the run, you have to be quick. Being quick means being in shape and being in great condition.

Guys like Warren Sapp, John Randle, Cortez Kennedy, Alan Page, La’Roi Glover and Tommie Harris are disruptive players. They all are good leverage players and they know how to use their hands, but the first thing that jumps out at you about them is how quick they are. If I were to put together a prototype defensive tackle for today’s game it would be Warren Sapp. Sapp had tremendous initial quickness off the snap, great hand usage, he was mean, tough and a tremendous athlete. When I first saw him play he was in the eighth grade and he was a quarterback and he returned kicks. Warren was a great athlete with a tremendous competitive spirit. ”

And what about our boy Man Child?

“When I went to the Senior Bowl I was really looking for a job, but I was surprised at just how quick Sedrick was. When I recruited him and coached him he was more of a power-player, but he has really worked hard on improving his overall speed, quickness, and his ability to get off blocks and be a force in the middle. Ellis was the best player in Mobile, no question about that. We are thrilled to have him here with the Saints.”

“This was Sedrick’s redshirt freshman season at USC and he was a backup to Mike Patterson. He played as a reserve in 11 games that 2004 season, but where he really started to show up big was in the practice sessions leading up to the national championship game. In those 20 or so practices he was really looking good and I told Pete Carroll at that time that Ellis could be every bit as good as Mike Patterson. Being at Ole Miss the past three seasons I didn’t get to study his whole body of work on the field until I came to the Saints, but I knew about his strong work ethic, his power, his ability to get off of blocks quickly and his football intelligence. We wanted to get a chance to get either Sedrick or Glenn Dorsey from LSU, and we are thrilled to get one of those two special guys.”

“I don’t want to go overboard about Sedrick because he hasn’t played a game in the NFL yet, but he really does compare favorably to Cortez Kennedy. Cortez was a couple of inches taller and just a bit quicker, but Ellis is every bit as strong as Cortez was. Sedrick has the perfect build for a defensive tackle. He has a huge wingspan and long arms and very long legs for his body, and you can see where he gets his explosiveness. Sedrick has an explosive lower-body and great power in the hips. He is built like an icebox, but he is awfully quick.”

I'll leave it the same way they do in the actual article. With coach Orgeron talking about our great state of Louisiana.

“In Louisiana it is just unbelievable to think about the football talent that comes from this small state. Per capita, Louisiana produces more players than any other state and the athleticism is something special. The people love their football here in Louisiana, but it is also an avenue to succeed doing something. We have great shipbuilders, fishermen, and oilfield workers, but if you don’t want to do that, sports, and in particular football, give you another avenue to take. When you watch the NFL and see players like Eli and Peyton Manning, Ed Reed, LaRon Landry, Jake Delhomme, Reggie Wayne, Kevin Mawae and Marcus Spears playing in the league from this state, that tells you volumes about the talent here. Football has been real good to my family and me. Now it is my time to get that Super Bowl trophy brought here to Louisiana and the Saints.”

More  about Sedrick Ellis and the rest of the defensive line from The Advocate. Bobby McCray had this to say.

“They said they watched a lot of film on me and they liked my work ethic,” McCray said. “I figured a team with a great offense — we came in here and they whipped us last year (41-24) — explosive offense, why not come in and be a nice addition to the defense?

“They were talking about wanting to get a better pass rush. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the one they had last year, but it’s a good addition for me to come in and try and help them out.”

“If all three of us can stay fresh we can get after the quarterback, not even mentioning what we have on the inside,” McCray said. “We’ve got a lot of great guys and we’re just trying to have a good rotation, keeping guys fresh, and having an effective pass rush.”

With the current staff, we have pretty good depth and flexibility. We already know how well Big Sed is doing. As for Hollis Thomas and DeMario Pressley...

Payton said Saturday that Thomas is overweight but he’s not concerned about him being in shape for the season.

Pressley was sidelined during mini-camp by a foot injury. Payton said he hopes to get him on the field during the remaining Organized Team Activities, which conclude June 12.

These two articles discuss Reggie Bush's hopes and dreams for the upcoming season, including punt returns. One article is from Houma Today and the other is from ESPN.

"I definitely made it a point to be here more, be around my teammates more," Bush said. "There are certain things you can do around the practice facility that you can't substitute for when you're not here, like watching film with the coaches. I'm just trying to find every edge possible to get better."

More on this later today.

This guy  says the hit on Reggie Bush early in the Divisional Championship game against the Eagles in 2006 was the greatest in NFL history. I know, it's an amateurish post by this guy and I try not to link to low quality stuff, but I thought you guys might find it interesting.