In a perfect world, the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers would be competing in joint practices right now.
Unfortunately, the 49ers had to cancel joint practices because of the amount of injuries they are currently dealing with. This is a significant blow to the Saints starters.
The amount of time starters play in the preseason varies depending on the team and the game. In the opener, New Orleans played their starters while the Arizona Cardinals opted to sit the first-team on both sides of the ball.
Joint practices are great because you get to see starters go against each other repeatedly for multiple days. In a preseason game, you may get a couple of series of starters vs. starters. Afterwards, there’s little need for starters to play in the ensuing preseason game.
The Saints won’t see the 49ers’ best in practice and likely won’t see them in the game either. It’s safe to say New Orleans needed this more than San Francisco.
Defensively, it would’ve allowed them to go against their current style of offense at its highest level. Offensively, you’re still trying to figure yourself out. Getting that many reps against an opposing team would’ve been valuable for development and evaluation.
