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Zack Baun is going to have to see the game differently.

He has gotten glimpses, playing a handful of snaps in space while a member of the Wisconsin Badgers, but most of the time, he took his usual position at the end of the defensive line. The Saints will likely find ways to use the third-round pick as part of the pass rush, but they're hoping the flashes Baun provided in space will become his primary role.

A potential move to linebacker means he will need to learn how to see the game through different angles instead of the flattened view he often had looking down the line. The transition is doable, and New Orleans is confident in Baun's ability to make it, but there is no doubt the process has been made harder due to losing practice time this summer.

So, just how steep is Baun's learning curve? To get a better feel for what he is up against entering training camp, NewOrleans.Football reviewed his college games from last season and evaluated his ability in coverage.***premium***

In the 10 games reviewed for this article, there were 98 plays with Baun in coverage. He was surprisingly solid and provided plenty of reason for optimism. While there are certainly things the coaching staff will want to work on to round out his edges and get him ready, the rookie has good eyes and awareness when the play is in front of him.

Even within the small sample, it is easy to see that one of his most significant issues seems to be spotting the ball while in coverage down the field in man coverage. Still, his learning curve isn't nearly as steep as one might expect when hearing that a defensive end will now be playing in space. This isn't Marcus Davenport or Trey Hendrickson dropping into coverage on a zone blitz. Baun has natural ability.

One play against Michigan provided a good example of him having good awareness and some rawness to his game. During this play, Baun dropped into space, read a pass to the running back in the flat, and broke down to make the tackle. A coach whose job it is to nitpick and polish a player up might see ways for Baun to improve his base so he can better explode when breaking down the field. Nothing major. Just additional ways to shine, and you can see below that he looks a little stuck at first.

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But this isn't a frequent issue. Baun has some plays where he is quick to react, including on one play against Iowa when he drops into space, chips a tight end up going up the field, and then explodes on an underneath pass to stop any forward progress. Camp should provide a better view on where some of these stands considering Baun only had nine passes thrown his direction during this study, and a few of them were screens.

Baun was good enough in coverage last season that he covered the slot 22 times during the games viewed for this article and performed pretty well. There was one problematic play against Ohio State where his issue with spotting the ball caused him to get flagged on a pass to a receiver in the end zone. But otherwise, there he was pretty good in this role. His most impressive play came when he carried a wheel route up the field without issue.

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He also made a handful of screens look like pretty easy work.

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There were a couple of plays where Baun looked hesitant and was thinking too much. On one of them against Ohio State, which resulted in an incompletion, you can see that he is a little slow to react throughout the play. And, once again, he never spots the ball.

He can probably clean this up pretty quickly with consistent reps covering tight ends during practices. Learning how to read someone's body language better will help Baun pick up tells on when to turn his head to locate the ball.

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You have to dig to find the plays because there are so few of him in coverage, but there is ample evidence on these tapes to support New Orleans' vision for Baun as a linebacker.

Will it show up right away? That could be a challenge.

The Saints might have to pick their spots with Baun early on, and perhaps supplement his snaps at linebacker by playing him on the edge or using him in blitz packages, but it isn't hard to see the path for his future if you go looking for it.