Saints training camp Day 6: Mason Tipton keeps balling

Notes and observations from Day 5 of training camp.

DRESS CODE: Pads. The only issue of the day was a small fight between Alontae Taylor and Cedrick Wilson that was broken up quickly.

ATTENDANCE: FB Zander Horvath (non-injury/personal), CB Marshon Lattimore (hip), RB Kendre Miller (hamstring), DE Trajan Jeffcoat (elbow) and DT Byran Bresee (foot) did not practice.

OL Shane Lemieux returned to practice. OL Nick Saldiveri (calf) left practice early.

INSIDE 1-ON-1s: The wide receivers and cornerbacks went through 1-on-1s for the first time in training camp. Not surprisingly, the biggest star looked like a star, as Chris Olave won all three of his reps.

Rashid Shaheed took three reps, beating Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry. On the other rep, he got covered by McKinstry and would have scored, but the pass from quarterback Derek Carr wasn't catchable.

McKinstry gave up one reception on three snaps, but one was a drop, and the other was uncatchable.

Undrafted rookie receiver/early camp breakout Mason Tipton also had a good showing in one-on-ones. He beat Rico Payton down the field for a touchdown grab on a pass from Spencer Rattler and then got open on a back-shoulder throw with Taylor in coverage.

Cornerback Rejzohn Wright had a nice win on a pass to the end zone to A.T. Perry. Perry later had a real nice win with Paulson Adebo in coverage on a physical comeback route.

CHASE YOUNG BUILDING UP: Saints pass rusher Chase Young was on the field for the first day of padded practices, logging three snaps during team drills. His impact was immediately felt. On one snap, Young bull-rushed Landon Young and drove the offensive tackle back into the quarterback. The play ended with Payton Turner logging a sack.

Young also attacked his positional drills, including one tackling drill. Young's size, speed and tenacity stand out among his peers.

Dennis Allen mentioned that Young is progressing ahead of his original schedule and that everyone has been pleased with his progress in recovery from spring neck surgery.

CARR DAY: Carr completed 5 of 7 passes during team drills. There really weren't a lot of big highlights, but one thing that is standing out is Carr's connection with Foster Moreau. He's clearly become very comfortable targeting the tight end over the middle, and that's something that could be built upon from last year.

A lot of Carr's passes ended up being checkdowns. One of them, a pass to the flat to Alvin Kamara, got stuffed by Pete Werner. Taylor had a nice PBU on a throw to Taysom Hill.

Here's a chart of Carr's throws:

TIPTON BALLING: We're at the point where Tipton might be more than just a fun camp story. The wide receiver caught a deep pass from Jake Haener that traveled nearly 30 yards through the air.

The rookie from Yale is making plays every single day. After practice, Allen said Tipton has reached the point where they need to find out what the receiver can do. Can he run every route? Get yards after the catch? We know he can go deep, and that might be enough to keep him around, but he could thrive if he can do more.

BACKUP BREAKDOWN: Haener and Rattler were both 2-for-3 during team drills.

Haener had the throw to Tipton and also squeezed one in against tight coverage to Dallin Holker.

Both of Rattler's completions were to the short area of the field. However, he had a long scramble after escaping the pocket.

GRUPE'S FIRST MISSES: Blake Grupe missed two kicks during practice, which were his first two misses of training camp. He's now 21/23 overall. Both misses were from 56 yards.

LOU HEDLEY: The punter battle looks legitimate this year. Matthew Hayball is real competition, but Hedley shook back and had some good time and distance on his punts. He hit three that hung for 4.65 seconds or more.

Consistency could be the thing that determines this battle.

INSTALLING TOUGHNESS: The Saints ballcarriers are setting a tone early in camp. After they get tackled, they emerge from the scrum to continue their runs and seek out contact. After one, Hill popped up and threw some stiff arms as he continued down the field.

Hard not to like the mentality. If the players aren't willing to give up in practice, they'll take that same mentality into games and try to execute the same way.

DIFFERENT APPROACH: We've seen the offense do some other things with the balls during practices to increase productivity during drills.

The Saints wide receivers are sometimes thrown rugby balls instead of footballs during various drills. The reason for this is that rugby balls are larger, and the rugby ball forces the receivers to catch the ball with their hands away from their bodies.

The running backs recently practiced with a cover on the ball to simulate a wet ball, and they ran some routes with resistance bands.

JUWAN PROGRESS: We've seen a steady progression in Juwan Johnson's rehab work. The tight end took another step forward on Monday by working out with a trainer on the side field and doing conditioning drills. He stayed on the field after practice and caught passes as well.

BLOCKING DRILL: The Saints spent considerable time working on blocking for kick returns. There seems to be a big effort toward avoiding illegal contact. The whole process was fascinating to watch, and there were many new strategies involved in handling the new play.