Saints Minicamp Practice Notes and Observations

LINK

The Saints held their first of three minicamp practices on Tuesday. Some fans were in attendance, and we had a lot of takeaways from the team session. Here's all of our notes and observations.

ATTENDANCE/ROSTER NOTES: The Saints got a lot of their guys back on the field today, with the main ones being Alvin Kamara, Marshon Lattimore, Deonte Harty, James Hurst, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Bradley Roby.

Among those players not spotted at practice included Taysom Hill, Dylan Mabin, Taco Charlton, Rashid Shaheed, Marcus Davenport, and Payton Turner.

Marcus Maye and C.J. Gardner-Johnson were among those present but not participating in the session.

Joe Schobert, David Johnson, Senio Kelemete, and Alex Quevedo were on the field and here on a tryout basis.

Dennis Allen said that the team is at 100 percent attendance, and the guys who weren't on the field today were in the building. Allen also revealed that Davenport is rehabbing from a shoulder issue, and should be back for training camp.

MICHAEL THOMAS: Thomas was inside the facility doing some rehab work, but made an appearance on the field toward the end of practice. This is a huge step forward for Thomas, and it was a great development on the first day.

PRACTICE NOTES/OBSERVATIONS: Here's a collective look at some of the things we saw from today's practice.

-The starting defensive look in walkthroughs had Cam Jordan, David Onyemata, Shy Tuttle, and Carl Granderson along the defensive line, Pete Werner and Demario Davis at linebacker, Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore at corner, with Marcus Maye and Tyrann Mathieu at safety.

-Offensively, Trevor Penning and Landon Young took the first-team reps at left and right tackle during walkthroughs. However, James Hurst and Ryan Ramczyk were the main starters of the day.

-The Saints had a period of working on lane coverage with the kick return team. Kirk Merritt was one of those who stood out, as well as Tony Jones Jr.

-Blake Gillikin was back to punting today, and the team had a period of work where they practiced downing the ball him with back there. The Saints worked primarily on the left side of the formation with jammers and gunners. The main group of gunners included J.T. Gray, Kawaan Baker, Kevin White, Bryce Thompson, and Vincent Gray.

-Sticking with the punt team, New Orleans was working in punt safe formation with a group that consisted of Andrew Dowell, Adam Trautman, Zach Wood, Kaden Elliss, and Zack Baun along the line with Adam Prentice and Dwayne Washington behind them. Daniel Sorensen was the protector.

-Punt returns included Deonte Harty, Easop Winston Jr., Marquez Callaway, and Chris Olave.

-New Orleans got some work in with a man three deep formation, having Tanoh Kpassagnon, David Onyemata, and Carl Granderson on the line with Demario Davis at linebacker. Cam Jordan, Kenativus Street, and Carl Granderson was the alternate look. P.J. Williams, Bryce Thompson, and Marshon Lattimore were all towards the line, while Paulson Adebo, J.T. Gray, Daniel Sorensen, and Tyrann Mathieu were on the field.

-Jerome Boger's officiating crew was here for practice, and they'll be here for all three days. Dennis Allen said they are working on some situational awareness in drills, as evidenced by some of the clock plays they ran at practice.

-Alvin Kamara had a nice sideline catch on a wheel route working against Pete Werner. Jameis Winston threw it perfectly.

-Kris Richard was handling the primary play call duties defensively throughout the day. Again, we somewhat pointed this out last week in OTAs, but this will be something to pay attention to with co-defensive coordinators.

-Pete Carmichael and Dennis Allen were side-by-side talking when the team was running things offensively. We pointed out last week that Carmichael is very involved in things, and there's a lot of confidence in his abilities.

-Joe Schobert and D'Marco Jackson had some good individual reps in drills. Jackson had great coverage on Abram Smith going down the sideline. He and Andrew Dowell were the team's third defensive linebacker pairing. That will be something to watch.

-Josh Andrews was working at center as the primary backup. Forrest Lamp was also working at center with the second team on a line (left to right) that consisted of Trevor Penning, Ethan Greenidge, Calvin Throckmorton, and Lewis Kidd.

-Kicker Alex Quevedo's tryout day saw him go 4-of-6 to end practice. He missed from 45 and 56 yards.

BRYCE THOMPSON: It's no longer a secret, but Thompson is rising up the depth charts. He was in with the first team during some prevent work. Dennis Allen praised his flexibility, saying that the team has looked at him for corner, nickel, and safety. The Saints certainly have a crowded safety group, but the early impressions Thompson has brought from OTAs to now are hard to overlook.

ALONTAE TAYLOR: You're starting to notice a good bit of the coverage skills Taylor has. On back-to-back reps, he matched up really well against Deonte Harty and Kevin White. Honestly, one-on-one drills can't get here fast enough for him.

JARVIS LANDRY SHINES AGAIN: The Saints didn't have any 7-on-7 or much in the way of 11-on-11, but Jarvis Landry made an outstanding sideline catch working against Bryce Thompson that went for a touchdown down the deep right sideline. Thompson was in position and went up for the ball, but it was a great throw by Andy Dalton to get it to him. Landry also had another nice one-handed grab down the sideline in reps.