Five Things You Need To Know From Saints Camp: August 4

By Ross Jackson

IRVINE – Each day of New Orleans Saints training camp, we will bring you the five most important pieces of information that you need. From big plays, to notable comments and important health updates, you will have everything you need to know from Saints camp each day in a quick and easily-digestible five-point list.

1. Quarterback Derek Carr led a 70-yard touchdown drive in practice.

The Saints worked on their end of half simulation during Sunday’s practice starting the ball at the 30-yard line with one timeout and 1:40 left on the clock. Carr was tasked with marching the team 70 yards for a score and did it by going 6/6 passing to six different receivers. He completed passes to tight end Foster Moreau, each of his first-time wideouts Chris Olave, Cedrick Wilson and Mason Tipton and two running backs; Alvin Kamara on a screen and Jamaal Williams on a dump off.

The connection with the undrafted Tipton was the highlight. The star of camp so far, Tipton got behind the coverage of cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles (who had an interception earlier in practice) for a 33-yard catch, going out of  bounds at the one yard line. Tipton was convinced he hit the pylon, but without replay available, the officials in attendance marked him out at the one. Williams would then run the ball in for a score on the next play. Carr has been excellent in these situational drills in minicamp and now training camp. Something the team hopes will translate to the regular season.

Second-year passer Jake Haener also led a successful touchdown drive to end practice. Remember, Haener is not expected to be at the Saints’ Day 11 training camp practice as he undergoes a procedure that will be part of his skin cancer treatment. It will be interesting to see how the Saints will manage their passing snaps with that in mind.

2. Four major defensive players missed practice with injury.

As if the Saints’ list of training camp injuries was not already long enough, the added a whopping four names on Sunday. Linebacker Pete Werner (shoulder), cornerback Paulson Adebo (groin), defensive end Payton Turner (toe) and defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd (toe) were all among the more than 10 absent Saints on Day 10. 

It is reasonable to expect the team is just being cautious with these injuries, especially considering Day 10 was a light day without pads after five straight days in them. But they have continued their streak of new injuries every single practice day thus far. Adding names like these starters and key contributors is not the best look for a team that has consistently struggled with health issues and concerns. Head coach Dennis Allen downplayed the severity of Turner’s injury in particular and mentioned that Adebo’s issue was more “tightness” than injury. He tried to go for practice, but was not able to. This team needs to see its bill of health start trending in the right direction fast.

3. Safety Tyrann Mathieu and offensive weapon Taysom Hill were both given rest days.

In place of Mathieu, second-year safety Jordan Howden lined up next to veteran defensive back Johnathan Abram. The two looked to communicate well, but Howden was unfortunately on the wrong end of a couple of big catches throughout practice. He has been working a lot in the box lately, so maybe he felt a little out of rhythm playing Mathieu’s deep coverage role.

With Hill out, tight ends Dallin Holker and Michael Jacobson got a lot more work, the latter in particular. Holker has been impressive throughout camp, this though was the first day he stood out as a blocker. Meanwhile Jacobson made some big catches over the middle.

4. The offensive line looked good, but the defensive line might have been taking it easy.

With a shorts and shells day instead of another practice in pads, the offensive line looked great! Though that may not be the real takeaway here. It would not be shocking if the defensive line, which has been wreaking havoc all camp so far, took it a bit easy on Sunday. After five-straight days of padded practices it could feel like a light practice day once those come off. 

The team, and thus the trash-talking, every-present defensive line will be in pads again on Monday. It will be interesting to see if they get back to their disruptive ways once the physicality ticks back up.

5. The kicking battles seem comfortable for the incumbents, but things could get interesting.

When it comes to kickers Blake Grupe and Charlie Smyth, the job still very much feels like Grupe’s to lose. Grupe is 33/38 in field goals this camp while Smyth is 30/35. Neither number is bad, but Smyth has missed three kicks from extra point distance already. The exciting part about Smyth is the distance he can cover. He drilled a 62-yard attempt on Sunday that looked like it would have been good from 70 with a cross-wind. If he can start to nail down the consistency of the short-game things could pick up in conversation quickly. But right now, everything still feels well within Grupe’s grasp as he has only missed one kick from inside 50 yards so far.

Meanwhile at punter, Matthew Hayball has impressed with his leg strength and punt placement. The Saints have been practicing punts from plus territory over the last couple of days and the rookie felt like he may have outperformed incumbent Lou Hedley in that area. He placed the majority of his punts with a chance to be downed within the 10- or 5-yard line and has had consistently impressive hangtime on his punts. Hedley is not to be left behind though. His game has improved dramatically with the addition of a more NFL punting style. The ability to interchange his rugby-style punts with the typical NFL form could be extremely useful to New Orleans depending on where the team is punting.