Receiver Mason Tipton runs way onto radar at New Orleans Saints training camp

'I think the most important thing to me is getting my teammates' respect'

Jul 29, 2024 at 05:09 PM

John DeShazier

Senior Writer

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Irvine, Calif. – Though yet a household name, Mason Tipton still has been easy to identify during training camp for the New Orleans Saints at Cal-Irvine.

Look behind the secondary – he's the guy routinely hauling in long passes, managing to run past defenders who, by now, surely must know that's his strength.

It has been a regular enough occurrence that the undrafted rookie from Yale, who ran a 4.33-second 40 on his pro day, earned a post-practice media session Monday, adding to his resume a long, diving touchdown catch down the left sideline on a throw from quarterback Jake Haener during team drills.

"Get the basics down," the 5-foot-11, 187-pound Tipton said was his main objective. "Learn the playbook. I think the most important thing to me is getting my teammates' respect. And that happens by working the hardest, helping out in any way I can, doing whatever I can to help the team win."

Early on, he's had several winning reps in practice and if he hasn't earned the respect of his teammates, he's on track.

"I think I'm on the way there. But I'm new here, I don't think I've had enough time for somebody to even get to know me yet," he said. "Building relationships with these guys, showing them what I'm about, that's a steppingstone for each stage."

At Yale, Tipton caught 132 passes for 2,067 yards and 19 touchdowns in four seasons. With New Orleans, he's looking to separate from a list of receivers behind starters Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed that includes A.T. Perry, Cedric Wilson, Stanley Morgan Jr., Bub Means and Equanimeous St. Brown.

One way to do that is to show that he effectively can run underneath routes, too.

"I think he's got the skill set," Coach Dennis Allen said. "He's a smaller player, but he's got some real good quickness and he's a savvy route runner. He's got some football awareness, and so I think he understands kind of how to play the position.

"He's got really explosive speed down the field. I think as we go throughout training camp, we'll have to see what are all those things that he can do. I think he's proven that he can run deep, and now we'll have to see how he execute on some of the underneath stuff and can we get the ball in his hands quickly, can he get some run after catch, those types of things."

Allen said Tipton reminds him of defensive back Chris Harris, an undrafted rookie in 2011 with Denver, when Allen was the Broncos' defensive coordinator.

"Every day he showed up out there, he worked his tail off, competed at the highest level and every day he did something to catch your eye," Allen said. "Next thing you know, you were two or three weeks into training camp and he's done something to deserve an opportunity to get more opportunities. I like some of the things I'm seeing out of (Tipton)."

While Tipton has managed to turn heads, he hasn't wowed himself.

"Nothing I didn't know already," he said. "I work hard – I tell myself I work the hardest. Any moments out here are something that I already believed I could do. When I'm prepared, I trust myself.

"I think it's important to know that I can run the whole route tree. Obviously, I'm fast. I've always been a deep threat receiver, but I can run every single route and I think that's what makes me dynamic in the pass game."

All-Access Photos: 2024 Saints Training Camp practice 7/29/24

Full coverage of the New Orleans Saints workouts during 2024 Training Camp at the University of California, Irvine on Monday, July 29.

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Full coverage of the New Orleans Saints workouts during 2024 Training Camp at the University of California, Irvine on Monday, July 29, including quarterback Derek Carr (4).