Saints training camp updates: Olave continues to shine, Jaylon Smith’s first day and more

We’re just two days away from the New Orleans Saints preseason debut, and the team took their practice to the Superdome on Friday.

The Saints invited former players to their final training camp before the preseason kickoff against the Kansas City Chiefs, and Saints legend and future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees made an appearance.

Saints receiver Chris Olave has been the star of Saints training camp, continuously making tough catches. Today was no different, as Carr found Olave three different times in the same drive, including a 44-yard catch over cornerback Alontae Taylor.

Don’t worry though, even though it seems Taylor has been on the tail end of multiple Chris Olave catches, Taylor keeps bouncing back and making plays. After Olave’s catch, Taylor went on to have a stellar performance in 7on7’s which included two pass breakups.

Linebacker Jaylon Smith had his first practice with the Saints after being signed yesterday. Smith will wear number 59 and will play a role alongside Demario Davis and Pete Werner this season.

The Saints linebacker has only missed 7.3% of his tackle attempts per PFF and has two interception and 14 pass breakups in his career. He was the Giants leading tackler through two game in last years playoffs, and he should help bolster the linebacker room which greatly needed depth behind Davis and Werner.

Derek Carr threw his first interception all training camp in teams during todays practice. Saints rookie safety Jordan Howden made a play in the back of the endzone to prevent a touchdown. Hopefully that’s a sign of things to come with the young and talented rookie out of Minnesota.

And to wrap things up for today’s training camp update, there was a small skirmish in todays practice after Eric McCoy got his helmet knocked off by Nathan Shepherd. Both Carl Granderson and Trevor Penning also got involved, but Dennis Allen quickly got things sorted out and held a mid-practice meeting saying, “If we want to act like boxers, we’ll start training like boxers and get on the side and run.”

On Sunday, we will see the Saints trot out on the field for the first time since their week 18 matchup against the Panthers in which they lost 10-7. They will host the Super Bowl champs and fans will get their first look at the newly assembled Saints 2023 squad.

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