Saints training camp notebook Aug. 4-5: Michael Thomas returns with a vengeance
New Orleans Saints training camp entered Day 9 with a group of roaring fans from the stands – much deserved by several standouts. There’s an air of excitement that comes with packed bleachers, particularly when the offense is winning the day. Today’s practice with Michael Thomas returning for team drills saw fans remain energetic through a brief torrential downpour. As are summers in New Orleans.
While last year’s training camp hyper-focused on the competition under center, I found myself frankly forgetting to watch who was taking reps. It felt nice. A sense of normalcy returned with stability at quarterback; Jameis Winston is still finding a rhythm, but his command of the offense is palpable. Today, his tempo in the passing game was quicker, his short throws to Alvin Kamara in the flat had touch, and his rhythm and accuracy improved from one day prior. Among individual observations, team trends are equally starting to emerge through training camp.
It’s hard to describe things feeling the same and entirely different at the same time. It’s continually surprising how the departures of Drew Brees and Sean Payton, and the subsequent team transitions, have felt seamless. That said, the contrast in competition and individual play in multiple position groups is apparent. I thought it might prove helpful to look back at the observations I had last year at training camp.
The most consistent receiver last summer was Deonte Harty – who no one could get excited about due to his impending suspension – followed by Chris Hogan. Watching the offense get in Trips formation multiple times and seeing a starting lineup of Chris Olave, Jarvis Landry, and Michael Thomas feels astonishing. Olave continues to sharpen his route running, Landry recorded his second one-handed catch with ease in back-to-back days, and Thomas commands attention by presence alone.
This time last year, it was hard to decipher whether the wide receiver corps or the defensive backs were the pillars of consistency, impending falling dominoes, or somewhere in between. That was when the starting cornerbacks were Marshon Lattimore and Ken Crawley, with Patrick Robinson on the depth chart. Paulson Adebo was taking second team reps. Though I did take note of the repeated instances of Adebo working off to the side on his footwork. Something he’d worked on all of 2020 with his longtime trainer. It’s clear this summer Adebo is the standout in the secondary. He went 3-1 in 1-on-1 reps yesterday with an interception and deflected pass. Bradley Roby spoke highly of Adebo following his Day 8 performance, noting how he wants to learn, listens, picks things up quickly, and remains humble.
No better way to be humbled than by a receiver with a vengeance. Michael Thomas went on an absolute tear today. In 1-on-1 drills, he bested Adebo – twice. He made sharp cuts to get quick separation in both reps and bodied his way through a physical Adebo in doing so. He caught passes from Winston and a touchdown by Andy Dalton later in 7-on-7’s. With Thomas notably adding to his route tree into the third level, he’s set to elevate his game in several ways this season.
The 1-on-1 matchups alone this year have been fascinating. Deonte Harty showed off his short area quickness with a catch against Bradley Roby, who moved well off the line of scrimmage and was able to disrupt Harty with his hands – at least initially. Alontae Taylor was sharp in his coverage, winning a rep against Olave, and Kirk Merritt beat near-perfect coverage by Adebo for a one-handed catch in the end zone. The game of cat and mouse between the receivers and the secondary has allowed both sides to make considerable strides in their competitive play. It’s almost easy to forget how much of a luxury it is for the Winston-led offense to have a true test in a strong defense in all levels of the field.
The 7-on-7 drills are equally intriguing if you focus on the coverage. With Roby holding up considerably well slotting in for Marshon Lattimore, who was absent after exiting yesterday’s practice with a trainer, I found myself looking at the ever-changing hand at safety. Dennis Allen all but told us this offseason that he planned to run a split-safety defense. At the time, Tyrann Mathieu had yet to be signed. Marcus Maye and Justin Evans didn’t seem to replace Marcus Williams and Malcolm Jenkins adequately. They didn’t draft anyone obvious to slot in. And if you’re going off of team tendencies, the Saints ran Cover-2 on 12% of snaps last year; they employed single-high safety coverage on 54% of snaps.
In the two days I’ve been able to observe, they’ve run a considerable number of plays in 7-on-7s that feature split safeties. The defense is often disguised. Alontae Taylor and Paulson Adebo have rotated into the slot or roaming at safety, with Justin Evans and P.J. Williams moving to cornerback. There have been tandems of Evans and Maye, Maye and Mathieu, and an intriguing trio of P.J. Williams, Evans, and Maye in a consistent rotation. New Orleans may favor single-high coverage, but the defensive back room is talented enough to lean into this versatility under Kris Richard’s coaching. It requires sharp footwork, solid communication, mental processing, and discipline. Each individual player in the secondary has put in the necessary work.
In yesterday’s post-practice remarks, Dennis Allen pointed out the benefit of trying out players in new roles in the absence of C.J. Gardner-Johnson in team drills. The last observation that stuck out was the employment of Justin Evans in the slot. Initially, he struggled a bit. He got caught in a pick-and-rub with a crossing defender on a play that went the other way and was a bit loose in his coverage to allow an easy reception that saw Richard sub in Bryce Thompson while coaching Evans off to the side. They went through the previous rep, and Evans immediately came back with notable improvement in his initial reaction time, receiving an audible cheer from Richard.
In the meantime, P.J. Williams moved into Evans’ primary role at safety the day prior, and J.T. Gray stood in for Maye, who I didn’t see participating but not of any concern. Rookie Taylor and Bryce Thompson came in for second team reps. Taylor impressed in his run defense with good downhill pursuit and a solid wrap-up tackle and shut down Kevin White in the slot with physicality while pointing out Jarvis Landry in motion – his football IQ stands out. Watching how that group shapes out in final roster cuts will be fascinating. As will be the employment of each player’s skill set in concert like a bunch of chess pieces.
The Saints lost a true strong safety in Malcolm Jenkins and perhaps the truest free safety in Marcus Williams. His range and ball tracking skills should feel more irreplaceable. But he wasn’t the most physical and willing tackler. Williams rarely came downhill in hot pursuit of a backfield runner and wasn’t often in the position to at all. It’s hard through two days of camp not to say that the versatility gained in their strategic offseason signings is arguably more valuable.
