New Orleans Saints minicamp observations: Day 2

The New Orleans Saints held their second day of their mandatory three-day minicamp on Wednesday. Once again, the threat of rain and thunderstorms held off to let fans partake in seeing the team in action. Here are some day two observations and notes.

Lattimore Rebounds

Marshon Lattimore had a much better day. During 11-on-11 action, Lattimore went 1-on-1 with Michael Thomas, and ended up breaking up the pass on an inside route. It clearly flustered Thomas, and set the tone for a defensive day. The Saints also put Lattimore up in a spot normally occupied by Kenny Vaccaro on one snap, for what that’s worth. Lattimore also had a good pass breakup on Brandon Coleman, which looked to be a sure catch.

Base Defense

Again, you can’t make too much out of this, but the starting rotation consisted of Cameron Jordan, Sheldon Rankins, David Onyemata, Alex Okafor on the defensive line. Alex Anzalone and Stephone Anthony both saw pretty extensive action as the first-team linebackers. Delvin Breaux and Marshon Lattimore handled top corner duties, with Kenny Vaccaro hovering over Alex Okafor, and Vonn Bell and Marcus Williams handling safety.

Inconsistency

Chase Daniel connected with Tommylee Lewis on a great pass and catch, but then followed it up with an interception by Rafael Bush. Later on in end of half drills, Garrett Grayson took what would have been two sacks and would have had a pick six from Royce LaFrance, but then in between that Grayson connected with Rashad Lawrence on a deep sideline pass.

Daniel had a similar path, connecting with Tommylee Lewis that got a good crowd reaction, and then closed out practice with a pick by Arthur Maulet. The play was whistled dead before Daniel threw it.

Tryout kicker Patrick Murray had two of his kicks blocked by the blue pads. They definitely had some low trajectory on them. Meanwhile, Wil Lutz was perfect on his field goal attempts.

Defense Shines

Drew Brees ended up getting picked off by Craig Robertson after his pass his the foot of Coby Fleener and tipped up in the air. There was a pretty common theme of the defense winning some battles. Marcus Williams had a good pass breakup against Jordan Williams-Lambert on a deep sideline route (could be argued that it was a drop), and I noted the closing speed of Williams when the ball was up in the air.

Highlights

Corey Fuller hauled in a deep sideline route with De’Vante Harris providing good coverage. Vonn Bell also made a big pass breakup that led to a Delvin Breaux interception. The aforementioned Tommylee Lewis catch that got a good crowd reaction was from him going vertical to secure a Chase Daniel pass. Grayson connected with Fleener on a deep sideline route, which was good to see.

Alvin Kamara Hype

Kamara continues to impress, and one of the things I noted was his jump off the snap. At one point, Brees swung it out to Kamara, and there wasn’t a defender with several yards thanks largely in part to some good blocking downfield from Michael Thomas. He was a familiar target on the day, and Sean Payton, Drew Brees, and Mark Ingram have all praised the rookie.

Overall, there was more intensity to this practice than Tuesday. The team had a bit more special teams work on the day, focusing on some kickoff coverage/returns and onside kicks. Speaking of, Alvin Kamara and Travaris Cadet took starting reps there.