As week two of 2011 Saints training camp begins, let's take a quick look at some of the highlights and lowlights from the first week of action.
Who's Hot
Robert Meachem - A week ago Meachem's trainer said the wide receiver was "better than he was any year he's ever been there with the Saints" So far that seems to be true because reports have heaped high praise on Meachem's training camp performance thus far. Bobby Hebert said he "dominated" day one.
Gregg Williams - Listening to Williams never gets old and I wish he did more interviews. The other day he laid into the local reporters while defending Roman Harper. Williams also had nice things to say about Jonathan Casillas and Shaun Rogers. Every time he talks about the Saints defense I get excited for the start of the season.
Malcolm Jenkins - Reports from training camp are unanimous: Malcolm Jenkins is pure awesome. He's gotten even better since last year, been putting work in on and off the field and picked off Drew Brees twice in as many days. If Darren Sharper isn't offered a contract it will most likely be because Jenkins has made him obsolete.
Martez Wilson - He just signed his contract and already running with the first team. That doesn't surprise me but what does is the fact that reporters have really liked what they see and think he might actually be able to contribute right away. Well, that would be nice.
Twitter - I have never spent as much time on Twitter as I did last week when the free agency period started. It's an incredible source of information and it's where news breaks first whether from reporters or the players themselves. Thanks to Twitter, small blogs like us can keep up with breaking news just as well as the big boys.
Who's Not
Fumblers - Pierre Thomas put the ball on the ground twice during the first day of practice and Mark Ingram was stripped by Vilma on his first ever carry. No reason for panic, they just need to shake the rust off.
Charles Brown - This is the perfect opportunity for Brown to show what he can do and earn a starting spot but that's hard to do that when you're stuck on the sideline. The sophomore left tackle has been battling a hamstring injury and failed his physical.
Drew Brees - Our fearless leader has gotten off to shaky start, not that I'm worried. Malcolm Jenkins has picked him off twice in the past two days of practice and I believe he's thrown at least one more interception. Get it together, Drew. Otherwise you can forget about that big payday or seeing Peyton Manning money.
Saints T-Shirts - When I saw a picture of the Charlie Brown-like shirts the Saints free agents were wearing on the sideline I thought they looked uglier than normal. And I know I'm not alone because Jim Varney agreed with me via Twitter: "These new shirts the Saints have w the chevron chest r hideous eyesores"
Jeff Duncan's mobile device - Damn auto-correct! While trying to get training camp updates out to the public using his Twitter account, it seems Duncan's phone has a mind of his own. Here are a few gems from Duncan the past few days: "Malcolm Jenkins tharked: "Roll Tide, baby!" & "Also at camp today: Chris Reissue" & "Freshly-signef Mark Ingram just joined practice."