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New Orleans Saints OTAs 2013: Defensive Depth Chart Observations

It's only one off-season practice so we really shouldn't read into any of this. But we will.

By Dave Cariello
Stacy Revere

The New Orleans Saints completed their first week of OTAs yesterday and the media was finally allowed access. That means finally getting an initial peak at the depth chart by seeing who lines up where during practice.

Mike Triplett was kind enough to share with us exactly which players were running with which team on the defense during practice, basically laying out the defensive depth chart, for the day at least.

FIRST STRING

DE - Cam Jordan

DE - Tom Johnson

DT - Brodrick Bunkley

OLB - Will Smith

OLB - Martez Wilson

ILB - Curtis Lofton

ILB - Will Herring

CB - Keenan Lewis

CB - Patrick Robinson

S - Roman Harper

S - Isa Abdul-Quddus

SECOND STRING

DE - Akiem Hicks

DE - Jay Richardson

DT - John Jenkins

OLB - Junior Galette

OLB - Victor Butler

ILB - Chris Chamberlain

ILB - Ray Shipman

CB - Jabari Greer

CB - Corey White

S - Jim Leonhard (*-replaced Harper with first string before Harper arrived later in practice)

S - Rafael Bush

THIRD/FOURTH STRING

DE - Tyrunn Walker

DE - Glenn Foster

DT - Issako Aaitui

OLB - Rufus Johnson, Eric Martin

OLB - Baraka Atkins, Chase Thomas

ILB - Ramon Humber

ILB - Kevin Reddick

CB - A.J. Davis, Korey Lindsey

CB - Rod Sweeting, Ryan Steed

S - Kenny Vaccaro

S - Jerico Nelson

Of course we're reminded by coach Payton not to read too much into any of this. And, of course, we're going to ignore him. So here are my quick observations of Thursday's practice lineup.

  • Malcolm Jenkins, Jonathan Vilma, Kenyon Coleman, and David Hawthorne did not practice.
  • Jabari Greer was running with the second team. Ouch. That's a surprise but I doubt Patrick Robinson is going to steal his starting spot.
  • With Malcolm Jenkins not practicing, Isa Abdul-Quddus got the nod at free safety with the first team. Good for him.
  • The highly touted Chase Thomas was all the way at the end of the line with the fourth stringers.
  • Tom Johnson as the starting defensive end opposite Cam Jordan and Akiem Hicks on second team? That's a little interesting.
  • The defensive tackle rotation order is as I would have expected: Brodrick Bunkley, Jonathan Jenkins, Issako Aaitui.
  • Will Herring got the first string honors at inside linebacker next to Curtis Lofton.
  • Who is this Ray Shipman character at second team inside linebacker?

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