Day 2 observations

Notes and observations from Wednesday's Saints mandatory minicamp practice

Attendance

DE Cam Jordan, DE Carl Granderson, WR Rashid Shaheed, OG Cesar Ruiz and DB Anthony Johnson were not spotted at Wednesday's practice.

Watching from the side were: OT Trevor Penning, OG Nick Saldiveri, RB Kendre Miller, RB Eno Benjamin, TE Miller Forristall.

Doing a little more than watching than participating: WR Mike Thomas.

Big play of the day

You wanted contested catches and big plays from Chris Olave? How about both in one?

Late in practice, the offense worked on taking drives down the field, but the first team only needed one snap after the second-year wide receiver made a difficult catch against tight coverage from cornerback Alontae Taylor. Derek Carr quickly found Olave up the sideline for a long touchdown. After the play, someone on the offense yelled, “Don’t play man on us,” to celebrate the score.

Olave has been a monster all summer, making highlight-reel plays left and right. He made another earlier in Wednesday’s practice when he went over the middle and caught a crossing route with Bradley Roby in coverage.

I'm buying all the Chris Olave stock. Hostile takeover if that's how I have to acquire it. I think he's going to have a monster season.— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) June 14, 2023

Other play of the day

Another great moment came during 7-on-7 drills when Carr connected with Alvin Kamara up the sideline on a deep route with linebacker Zack Baun in coverage.

Kamara had a few plays where he lined up to the outside, which was a welcome site after he so seldomly took that position on the field last year. Getting some early reps there could be a sign of things to come.

The whole gang is here 🫡 pic.twitter.com/cSe171iquY— NOF (@nofnetwork) June 14, 2023

Switching it up

Yesterday was Paulson Adebo’s day to start at outside cornerback. Today, it was Taylor’s turn.

Taylor gave up a couple of plays, including the one to Olave, but he looked good overall. He also took some snaps at slot cornerback. Early on, he gave up a play to James Washington on a crossing route, but those ups and downs will come as he adjusts to the position.

One of those adjustments came on the last play of practice when Taylor, playing from the slot, jumped a Jake Haener pass that was intended for Kawaan Baker. Had it been live action, Taylor would have returned the interception for a touchdown.

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Nice play

You never want to make too much of a practice rep, especially on the offensive or defensive lines since there is no contact, but we’re at a place where moments of growth for defensive end Payton Turner are important.

The former first-round pick had a sack of Carr to close down a 2-point conversion attempt. Now, we’re only seeing glimpses of unpadded plays right now, so it’s hard to gauge how Turner has looked overall.

Interesting wrinkle

With several starters on the offensive line missing, Andrus Peat lined up at left tackle with James Hurst at left guard. Peat usually plays guard, so you'd have expected Hurst to play tackle due to injuries. Maybe it was just getting guys used to different spots, but it was still interesting to see the linemen deployed like this.

Thomas work

Mike Thomas continued to ramp up his action during practice. He again worked out on a side field with Carr, this time working on quick outs. He got off the ground with good height to try to catch a pass at one point — a good sign for the ankle.

During the second special teams session, Kamara joined Thomas and the QBs and worked scenarios with Carr.

Thomas was even more visibly involved today, working alongside the other wide receivers throughout position drills after retreating inside Tuesday during this period.

Carr's day

Wednesday was a much better day for the offense overall. Carr looked sharp during 7-on-7s after a rough start. His first pass to Juwan Johnson was low and well defended by Marcus Maye, and his second one was dropped by Kamara. He then hit on his next three passes and carried the momentum into team drills on the deep pass to Olave.

Jameis Winston also looked sharp. The Saints backup hit all three of his attempts during 7-on-7s and finished 5-for-8 during team drills.

Haener hit one pass during 7-on-7s and missed on another. The miss might have been one of the best plays of the day. He put it right over defensive back Adrian Frye up the right sideline, but the ball was dropped by Malik Flowers. Haener was picked off by Taylor during team drills.

Notes

Taysom Hill took all of his reps at non-quarterback positions. Overreaction to him playing quarterback yesterday? Perhaps, but those things tend to happen in small sample sizes. … Rookie Jordan Howden worked as the first safety in dime packages. … Punt coverage team from left to right: Paulson Adebo, Juwan Johnson, Andrew Dowell, D’Marco Jackson, Baun, JT Gray, Ty Summers, Ryan Connelly, Isaac Yiadom, Taylor. … Kick coverage team from left to right: Adebo, Johnson, Dowell, Jackson, Gray, Yiadom, Connelly, Taylor.

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