Who stood out when the New Orleans Saints hit the practice field on Tuesday? Which trends and takeaways are most interesting? That’s what we set out to answer after taking in an afternoon of work at the Saints training facility.
Here’s what our own Maddy Hudak learned about Derek Carr, Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill, Pete Werner, and many of their teammates after the first Saints minicamp practice:
Taysom Hill working at quarterback
Taysom Hill was out there and throwing with the quarterbacks, which we all felt was interesting. He does look a little smaller in his upper body and does look like a running quarterback. Derek Carr made comments after practice about how impressive in stature Hill is, saying that he’s bigger than the podium he was standing on and faster than his truck.
And that’s something I’m interested to see more of as it develops, because in the past Hill was used a lot more as a stopgap with quarterbacks that weren’t as great. Yet with the pedigree with Derek Carr, he’s still an extremely valuable option there and it’s something I want to see — how their relationship develops over the next couple of days and into training camp.
Alvin Kamara impressing Derek Carr
Alvin Kamara was there today, and almost every play I saw him lining up out wide. Derek Carr threw to him several times and after practice we asked him about working with Kamara, what that’s been like, if he’s had a running back that can catch passes like him. Carr was impressed and described Kamara as a special talent.
Carr moreso individualized it about Kamara. Just how smart and cerebral he is, that he has the ability to see things, create plays, see things in a way that elevates it for that role. Which reminds me of a time that he ran a play against the Falcons that usually Taysom Hill ran it, but Kamara was able to execute it.
Unique assignment for Pete Werner
There was a lot of Pete Werner in the slot today, he specifically stood out in team drills where it was pretty much all defensive backs and just Werner out there. It looked like there was a dime defense going there, they didn’t have a line and it was a trainer or coach throwing the ball, but it was interesting because I’ve never seen Werner isolated just with the defensive backs.
It reminds me of last summer when he was lining up in the slot against Michael Thomas. It makes me think of Zack Baun’s time in the slot through OTAs and if that’s more of the vision there for Werner, that they want to build that slot role. I could see some packages or situations where they have Werner in coverage, which he did at Ohio State at times, and that’s something that Kwon Alexander really offered was being a coverage linebacker.
Some rookies earning early attention
When they ran some 11-on-11 drills, I wasn’t able to get the entire starting lineup but they had four receivers out there with Kamara lined up wide, Keith Kirkwood in the slot, on the other side was Chris Olave in the slot and Tre’Quan Smith out wide. Smith had a couple of catches today. And then Werner was covering undrafted rookie wide receiver Shaquan Davis (South Carolina State) in the slot. A.T. Perry (Wake Forest) ran a crossing route with Alvin Kamara, and Marshon Lattimore and Demario Davis were in coverage there, and Kamara was able to catch the pass.
Bradley Roby in the slot, Lattimore and Paulson Adebo at cornerback on the first team defense. Marcus Maye and Tyrann Mathieu at safety. On the second team they had Alontae Taylor in Lattimore’s role. It did look like they were creative with their secondary packages today, not just with Werner in the slot but with fifth-round rookie Jordan Howden (Minnesota) and veteran free agent Lonnie Johnson Jr. in the defensive backfield. It was interesting that Mathieu moved closer up to the line of scrimmage at times.
Derek Carr's respect for Marshon Lattimore
I did really like the way Carr described Lattimore, being that he’s played against him. He said that there are certain throws he knows he can’t make against Lattimore and even if the window is there, he can’t trust it. Having Lattimore out there meant he had to throw into very tight windows for minicamp. He spoke to Lattimore’s competitive, tenacity and his drive — a lot of guys are talented, but a lot of talented guys kind of rest on their laurels. Lattimore has rare competitiveness given his stature around the league.
