Training camp is officially underway, and the New Orleans Saints have heard a handful of stories about the first few days. Here I’m going to dive a little deeper into a few of the stories that have come up. Starting off with some injury updates.
The first story that really took the fanbases eye was that Taysom Hill is currently out with an injury. The quarterback/tight end/practically every possession on the field suffered a rib injury during practice. He sat out the day after, but it doesn’t sound like it’s of any seriousness at the moment. Head coach Dennis Allen said that he’s just going to be out for a bit, though there wasn’t anything about his tone that makes it seem worse. With Hill being a tight end this season, it’s interesting to see how he will be replaced in camp. Those reps seem to be heading towards Lucas Krull and Adam Trautman for the time being.
The next story was regarding second year cornerback Paulson Adebo. Adebo had himself a strong rookie season. One where fans started to realize his potentially as a genuine lockdown corner opposite of Marshon Lattimore if he can keep on improving. So far in camp, he’s done just that. He was taking first team reps every day so far and has broken up a pass in every single practice. This was during both full team drills and seven on seven drills. The Saints corner looks like he’s ready to take a leap next season.
More Offensive News For The Saints
We also have something with Jameis Winston. Winston looks like he’s handling his recovery well right now and is putting up a good camp. However, he’s had some issues with short-area accuracy at times, though a couple of those can simply be placed on the route runner this early into camp. As for his long passes, he hasn’t uncorked many of them, but we did see a beautiful one to the rookie Chris Olave earlier. Overall, Winston has some work left to do before the year starts, but he’s on good pace.
The final story comes from their running back room. Everybody knows that Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram are the top two backs in the offense. Although, Kamara could be facing a suspension even if it isn’t that much and Ingram is getting up there in age. Simply put, the Saints need another running back to separate himself this offseason to take that third spot.
So far, it has been Devine Ozigbo. Ozigbo has been great in pass protection and his vision looks excellent so far. Other backs in the rotation like Abram Smith hasn’t really turned any heads and Tony Jones Jr suffered two big drops in a recent practice that carried onwards to an unfortunate day. Camp is still very early on, so this may change in the coming weeks. However, Ozigbo is certainly looking like the man to beat in the unit.