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Today ended the second day of the Saints mandatory minicamp. The last one will be held tomorrow at the Saints Metairie practice facility at 11:00 A.M. and is open to the public. Thanks to the rain yesterday, today's practice was nice and humid with a touch of spring heat. But, you get to see your boys on the grass which is worth it, right?
Here are some brief notes from today's practice:
1.) As expected, no Jimmy Graham thus far (which means he will end up racking a $63,000 fine if he skips tomorrow as well). He did take his plane for a spin today, though. Drew made a comment about Graham:
"We all know and love Jimmy and we know it's going to get worked out at some point, however it gets worked out, no matter the results of this hearing. So when he returns he will be ready."
No Jimmy Graham sighting. No low flying planes yet.
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) June 11, 2014
2.) The defense continues it's efforts to improve on forcing turnovers with more positive results today.
Also in #Saints team drills, Patrick Robinson stripped ball from Robert Meachem - continuing the emphasis on takeaways we've seen all summer
— Mike Triplett (@MikeTriplett) June 11, 2014
3.) My favorite UDFA coming into this year continues to struggle, but it is still very early. Coleman got a chance to come in with the 1s and immediately dropped the pass from Brees. Made up for it with nice catches with the 2s.
Brandon Coleman with another drop #saints
— Sean Fazende (@SeanFazende) June 11, 2014
4.) Always nice to see the DBs doing ball drills.
That's rookie @HUSKER_SJB in action pic.twitter.com/8Wr8CExJJ6
— Steve Geller (@SteveGellerWWL) June 11, 2014
5.) Goodwin/Lelito continue to duke it out for the starting spot with both splitting time between the 1s and 2s.
And, as expected, for recent set of 11v11 drills, veteran Jon Goodwin in with 1st team at center, after Lelito got plenty of work there.
— Ramon Antonio Vargas (@RVargasAdvocate) June 11, 2014
6.) Great news for Colston fans, as he said today that he has no health issues going into this year. I think it was obvious, especially early in the year, that he was ailing. If what he says is true we could see a return to form.
#saints WR Marques Colston says, unlike last year, he has no foot issues. 'Feels completely different ... no restrictions.'
— Ramon Antonio Vargas (@RVargasAdvocate) June 11, 2014
7.) Sean Payton is already putting the team under the crowd noise drills. Pretty early, but Payton knows best. Offense did have hiccups playing under the noise.
Saints breaking out crowd noise for team drills. Only 87 days till they hear a real crowd right?!!
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) June 11, 2014
8.) What is probably just as important as forcing turnovers is knowing when to try to force or when to make the safe play. Ryan seems to be teaching both as the DBs really dominated with several pass breakups.
Defensive backs having big day at #Saints camp. Tons of pass break-ups.
— Mike Triplett (@MikeTriplett) June 11, 2014
7 on 7 drills for #Saints defense knocking first 2 passes away
— Kristian Garic (@KristianGaric1) June 11, 2014
9.) Someone I encourage everyone to keep an eye on, especially with the Graham situation continuing, is converted receiver Hamm from ULM. He's been making some plays, but its a deep position at TE.
TE Je'Ron Hamm with a nice leaping catch in the endzone from McCown. He's caught my eye in the passing game the last 3 weeks.
— Larry Holder (@LarryHolder) June 11, 2014
10.) The DB carousal continued today with Baptiste seeing time with the 1s. Corey White has spent most of his time during OTAs and Minicamp at the Nickel position. It is a bit to early to be drawing conclusions, but that is where White has been the most effective during his short career.
Baptiste opening this set of team drills with 1s. White at nickel. Pretty sure Galette would have sacked Brees on opening play.
— Larry Holder (@LarryHolder) June 11, 2014