Saints training camp update 8/9

The Saints significantly upped the tempo of their practice today in an effort to both challenge the players and intensify the concentration and focus. The results were good overall. The Saints had a much crisper practice today. Here are some tidbits from practice:

• Tyeler Davison was real impressive. He’s a very powerful player that seems to be a load to handle on the interior. He’s got a good first step and though he doesn’t seem like the quickest guy his strength makes up for it.
• Terron Armstead really impressed me. He had a 1 on 1 with Cam Jordan and handled him.
• Max Unger had a 1 on 1 with John Jenkins and completely dominated him. Unger is a big time pickup, make no mistake about it.
• Jahri Evans had a heavily wrapped up knee and didn’t seem to move as well as always – but he played well too. This offensive line feels real solid other than left guard which remains a question mark with Lelito. Strief looked very good too.
• Bobby Richardson got into a Brees throwing lane to bat a pass. He continues to make the most of 1st team reps.
• Nick Toon had a poor practice, dropping a perfect thrown Brees ball after beating Keenan Lewis on a deep ball. It wasn’t an easy catch but it’s one he has to make. He later couldn’t come up with a tight quarters throw due to great coverage by Stanley Jean-Baptiste.
• Vinnie Sunseri has been solid. He looks healthy and good.
• R. J. Harris seems to have chemistry with all four quarterbacks. One to watch.
• Willie Snead IV has been talked about a lot but he didn’t have a great day today. He seemed to drop a deep ball perfectly thrown by Garrett Grayson.
• Both kickers were perfect on the day, including both hitting a 58/59 yarder. Dustin Hopkins has yet to miss a kick at all. Zach Hocker’s 59 yarder was good by about 8 yards, but Hopkins just snuck his behind the goalpost.
• Due to the kickers making all the kicks, the coaches had to run after practice instead of the players. After the long makes the players erupted into a cheer.
• Of the backups, I’d say McCown looked the best. At this point I’ll be surprised if he’s not the backup over Ryan Griffin.
• Senio Kelemete was playing a lot of center with the backups. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing for him.
• Colston has looked fantastic to me in these last two practices.
• Something is up with Brandin Cooks, he was in shorts and did not participate. He was around and doing light stuff, though, so it doesn’t seem serious.
• At one point the Saints lined up Khiry Robinson in the slot and he ran an out where Brees easily hit him for a nice gain with Stephone Anthony in coverage. Robinson looks very good catching the ball and Anthony was slow getting to him in coverage. Anthony was with the 1s all practice, pretty much.
• Kikaha had a quiet practice but he did smoke Bryce Harris at one point in 1 on 1s.

Player chats:

I had a chance to talk with a number of players at the player picnic after practice and here is what they said:

• Andrus Peat said he felt dizzy during sprints after taking added reps during the scrimmage. He was back at practice today and feels much better. Good to go. Conditioning will remain a thing going forward. To me he did look a little doughy in his build. He’ll need time in the weight room to add power to his frame.
• Kenny Vaccaro told me his ankle feels good. A good sign for his season.
• Josh Hill told me his injury is nothing serious and that there’s no need to worry.
• Dustin Hopkins, who has yet to miss a kick in practice, told me he’s staying level headed because he thinks the field goals in preseason games will be weighed more heavily. He wants to have a good performance in the games to make sure the team keeps him. He really loves New Orleans and feels settled with his family so he hopes to win the kicker job.
• Jahri Evans told me he still talks to retired Jonathan Goodwin all the time. “That’s my guy”.
• I ran into Leigh Torrence and talked to him for a while. He’s now an intern coach with the Saints. Said he’s getting involved with coaching and hoping to bring some leadership and character to the guys. He was very excited to be back with the team and thankful for the chance.
• I asked Keenan Lewis, who just changed to #21, if he watched Dalton Hilliard as a kid. He said it factored into his decision to pick that number. “Yeah, I was a big fan”.

In case you’re curious, by far the most approachable guys on the team were Austin Johnson, Terron Armstead, Cam Jordan and Thomas Morstead. Happy to take time to talk to fans. Dustin Hopkins was very gracious, too.

That’s it for today. Make sure you follow us on twitter for live updates from practice.