Camp is upon us
The day is finally upon us. A small semblance of the NFL’s return is here for Saints fans. While we will still have to wait to see our guys in black and gold on the football field, rookies have officially reported to training camp, with vets to follow soon after.
We’re now a full season removed from Drew and heading into our first season with Dennis Allen as the new head coach. If you would have told me 3 years ago this would be the case, I may have totally packed it in and focused on the Pelicans full time. The front office has done an excellent job navigating every situation thrown their way, while continuing to build a roster to compete with just about any other team in the league.
To recap the offseason in a nutshell: the Hall of Fame head coach retires, Kamara arrested, found new coach, flirted with a potential sex offender (I give us a pass on this, every bad bitch coming out of a long-term relationship goes through a dark phase), the Taysom experience is over, the cap is not real, we have actual WRs again, and geaux tigahs. I think that about sums it up.
As we come into camp however, there are still a few questions to be answered. Things to look for in this years camp are as follows:
Who stands out for the final WR slots? You have to imagine your top 4 are solidified with Michael Thomas, Chris Olave, Jarvis Landry, and Deonte Harty. The question then comes, how many do the saints keep? Traditionally the Saints have carried 6 WRs, leaving the last two spots up for grabs between Tre’Quan, Marquez, Kevin White, Kirk Merritt, Easop Winston Jr., Rashis Shaheed, Dai’Jean Dixon, and Kawaan Baker. You would have to imagine Tre’Quan and Marquez will have the leg up here, but there is no denying, this wide receiver core will look completely different than it did last season. I personally look for Harty to have a MAJOR impact with Jameis throwing him the ball for a full season, but the story is yet to be written.
Is there a diamond in the rough? In years past, the Saints have been very good at finding running backs in either later rounds or undrafted all together. If there were ever a year for this to happen, it would be this year. With the impending suspension of Alvin Kamara looming over head, and Mark Ingram battling father time, this may be one of the most important positions coming out of training camp this year. Outside of Kamara and Ingram, the roster currently consists of Devine Ozigbo, Abram Smith, Dwayne Washington, and Tony Jones Jr. While Tony Jones Jr has shown some promise, Abram Smith may be the only other person on the roster that shows the big play ability one would like to see here.
Honorable mention when it comes to things to watch? HEALTH. This team will move as Jameis Winston moves. If he is not healthy, they may be in a world of trouble. Penning vs Hurst, how is Penning adjusting to the NFL, can he unseat Hurst? Defense, how are they coming together with the new additions? One would assume the defense is the strong point, but there have been a few moving pieces this year that will require them to build chemistry.
I don’t know about you, but I can already taste the 9am cold ones going down. I can smell the glorious smell of alcohol, smoked meats, jambalaya, and cigarettes as I stroll down the city street into champions square, ready to party my face off to whatever local cover band is playing their rendition of a Bruno Mars song. I can FEEL the electricity as we seal the deal with a game winning defensive stop, or marching back from down multiple scores, watching our star running back bobble a ball and slash through defenders as he scores the game tying touchdown. There is NOTHING like Saints game day, and there is NOTHING like the atmosphere of the Caesars SuperDome.
Who Dat!?!?!?!?
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