Saints trust your feet

New Orleans Saints quarterbacks never have a chance to forget what's become most important to them.

The message is all around them. It's printed on their hats, on their T-shirts and on their coaches' T-shirts. They hear it at practice, in meetings and during interviews. They've heard and seen it so much they say it themselves. The slogan has become everything, the foundation of what playing quarterback for the Saints is now built upon, and they deeply believe in the philosophy.

"Listen to your feet."

The previous offense the Saints ran was built around Drew Brees, as it should have been. For 15 years, the organization watched him play the position better than all but a few have ever played it. Because of that, the scheme became tailored to him, and the rules were really just suggestions.

There were plenty of plays that called for a three-step drop, but when the QBs watched Brees, he might take a five-step drop instead. Brees could do what he wanted and make it work, probably even better than designed because he was Drew Brees.

But when non-Brees QB asked how something was supposed to work, they were often told to do what felt right for them. The problem with leaving things so loose is that not everyone is Brees, and sometimes, leaving things up to interpretation can lead to suboptimal interpretations.

"Last year was more like, 'How do you feel things? Because when I play, I feel things a lot, and it's not robotic," Jake Haener said. "This year, they still want me to feel things, but they want me to have a process with my feet. That is going to make me very disciplined, very process driven and help me."

🆕: What do we like best about Klint Kubiak’s effect on Saints so far?- How would things have played out if Drew Brees played longer?- What do we think about ESPN Football Power Index?- How is the Saints' 2024 draft class looking?📺: https://t.co/pAhNr4b6O7 pic.twitter.com/VZr6fGjBWK— NOF (@nofnetwork) June 1, 2024

Everything about this offense is about timing and rhythm. It's something offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak believes in deeply. The same goes for quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. Their philosophy is simple: Your feet lead your eyes. So, if a QB is on time with his feet, then it's impossible to be late with a throw.

Brandon Thomas / NewOrleans.Football

New Orleans Saints QBs coach Andrew Janocko wears a "Listen to Your Feet" T-shirt during practice.

Think about it like this: Every play has a set of progressions, and those are designed with the idea pass catchers will open up in a precise order at a precise time. The first one should be open at the end of the drop, the second one at the next progression and so on. The idea is to have the QB's feet tied to each throwing window, as it opens.

In other words, it's all timing, and the Saints offensive staff believes timing can be controlled and designed. And it all starts with the feet.

Making sure the QBs trust their feet is a daily undertaking. Members of the video staff film the quarterbacks' feet on every throw during every practice, starting with individual drills right through 7-on-7s and the team period. The coaching staff wants to make sure it looks the same throughout every portion of practice.

Consistency is everything. Saints QBs have studied how Kirk Cousins operated this offense in Minnesota and what Brock Purdy did in San Francisco. One thing the QBs have noticed is that it's not always perfect with either player, but it's right a lot of the time. Their coaches, just like the Saints', are aiming for perfection so that the results are at least close, and the target never changes.

"Footwork is a big deal; the details in the system are very important for the quarterback position," Derek Carr said. "How they see things and how they view things, it's really exciting. For me, this level of detail is exciting because when you're held to that standard, usually, as a professional, you play to that standard. I'm excited about these coaches because they hold us to it every single day."

Right now, there is still a lot of thinking about what their feet are doing. This is new, and not all of it has been perfect. Sometimes, they can become so concerned with what they're doing with their feet that they lose focus on what's happening around them.

But that's OK. This is the time of year for making mistakes. What matters is that the quarterbacks can see that once they get it down, playing the position will be easier.

"It's easy to operate, but it's easy to overthink things too," Haener said. "End of the day, I gotta be so dialed in on what I'm doing that I don't even want to think about my feet. But we spend so much time coaching it that I can just go out and play and operate."

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One of the first questions Janocko was asked when he arrived in New Orleans was about his philosophies and the values he preaches in his quarterbacks' room. The first thing he talked about was trust — trust from the players that coaches are going to do the right things to help them and trust from the coaching staff that the players are going to execute those things to the best of their abilities.

The second thing? "We're going to listen to our feet. Our feet are everything. We're built from the ground up."

There's no doubt now the Saints QBs know the culture and what's expected of them. Nothing about the basics is up for interpretation. The message is clear. The coaches are going to have their eyes in the right places. The quarterbacks just have to dive in. Feet first.