The New Orleans Saints took to the field on Saturday for their third day of training camp with plenty of cheer from the fans. Many lined up early to get a good seat at the team’s practice facility, and the team had plenty of viewing options to offer. Naturally, this was the first day the pads came on, so there was a lot more contact that the previous two sessions. Here’s a few of my observations:
- First-team defense remained the same on the defensive line and in the secondary as Thursday and Friday, but A.J. Klein (SAM), Craig Robertson (MIKE), and Alex Anzalone (WILL) were your starting linebackers. Tyeler Davison also rotated in at defensive tackle in place of David Onyemata. Second-team saw Nate Stupar (SAM) pairing with Manti Te’o (MIKE) and Stephone Anthony (WILL).
- Damian Swann returned to action after being on the PUP list.
One-one-drills: The receivers went head-to-head with the secondary, and for the most part the defense came out on top. I charted 8-of-22 for the receivers with these notes:
- Michael Thomas (1-of-2): P.J. Williams (Complete - Inside Slant), Sterling Moore (Incomplete - Physical battle, both grabbed jerseys)
- Ted Ginn Jr. (0-of-2) - Delvin Breaux (Incomplete - Juggled Ball), Taveze Calhoun (Incomplete - Deep Left)
- Willie Snead (0-of-3) - Sterling Moore (Incomplete - PBU), P.J. Williams (Incomplete - Dropped Middle, had him beat)
- Corey Fuller (2-of-2) - De’Vante Harris (Complete - Deep Left TD), Delvin Breaux (Complete - Deep Left one-handed TD)
- Brandon Coleman (1-of-2) - Ken Crawley (Complete - Inside Slant), Ken Crawley (Incomplete)
- Tommylee Lewis (0-of-3) - Marshon Lattimore (Incomplete - Good Coverage), De’Vante Harris (Incomplete), Delvin Breaux (Incomplete - PBU)
- Jake Lampman (1-of-2) - Arthur Maulet (Incomplete - Physical off line, could have been DPI/hold), Arthur Maulet (Complete)
- Rashad Lawrence (1-of-2) - Damian Swann (Incomplete - Off Target), Marshon Lattimore (Complete - Inside Slant)
- Jordan Williams-Lambert (1-of-2) - Dejaun Butler (Complete - Curl Left), Dejaun Butler (Incomplete - Deep Route)
- Travin Dural (1-of-2) - Erik Harris (Complete - Inside Slant), Vonn Bell (Incomplete)
Punt Return Duties: Tommylee Lewis, Alvin Kamara, Travaris Cadet, Ted Ginn Jr., Travin Dural, and De’Vante Harris all fielded punts on the day.
Play of the day: Easily this went to Corey Fuller for his one-handed touchdown grab with Delvin Breaux in coverage. However, Brandon Coleman gets an honorable mention for beating Marshon Lattimore on a go route down the sideline from Chase Daniel. It was identical to Friday’s play where he beat Delvin Breaux.
Day 3, 1st padded practice. One on one passing drill, Fuller on Breaux. @ESPNRadioNOLA pic.twitter.com/uMcbpK6zdO
— Gus Kattengell (@Gkatt_17) July 29, 2017
- Recently acquired offensive lineman Orlando Franklin worked with the second-team offense at left guard.
7-on-7: All quarterbacks were perfect on the day: Drew Brees (5-for-5), Chase Daniel (4-for-4), Garrett Grayson (3-for-3), Ryan Nassib (3-for-3). While this might be a bad indication on the defense, most of these were short routes. I had five of the 15 passes for middle/intermediate gains.
Good: Alex Anzalone displayed some really good awareness when he recognized a screen play to Adrian Peterson and closed in to make a tackle for loss. Alex Okafor had a sack on Brees working against Ryan Ramczyk, but Ramczyk also won a rep. Chris Banjo had a very good pass breakup against Garrett Griffin.
Not so good: Ted Ginn Jr. dropped a relatively easy sideline pass on the left side from Brees, which is obviously something you don’t want to see. The defense sent a heavy blitz on one play, which left Corey Fuller wide open across the middle for a considerable RAC and score.
You can check out the attached video for a few more thoughts on camp here: