The New Orleans Saints took the field for practice during 2022 Training Camp presented by Rouses Markets on Thursday, July 28.
1. Davenport sighting:
We mentioned in Wednesday's Observations that Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas was taken off the PUP (physically unable to perform) list by virtue of his participation during practice. The other player on the PUP list is defensive end Marcus Davenport, who right now isn't ready to come back to practice until his conditioning gets better, according to General Manager Mickey Loomis. Well, after not being present at practice Wednesday, Davenport appeared Thursday along with linebacker Pete Werner (who was put on the Non Football Injury list on Wednesday) for conditioning drills. Both did a variety of drills for approximately 60 minutes before heading back into the locker room prior to practice ending. Even though he is not practicing as of yet, the fact he's out on the field doing conditioning work tells you he is closer to being out there than not.
2. Solid day for Turner:
In what was an admittedly pretty uneventful day of practice in day No. 2 of Saints Training Camp presented by Rouses, one player who seemed to be in the mix more often than not during team drills was second year defensive end Payton Turner. After an injury-interrupted rookie season with limited yet productive playing time, Turner's availability this season will be a huge key as to the overall defensive line play for the Saints. For the second straight day, Turner recorded at least one bull-rush sack, (another possible debatable sack of Jameis Winston) and a tackle for loss (TFL ) on running back Devine Ozigbo. Turner got a ton of reps on Thursday due to the absence of defensive end Cam Jordan (veteran day off) and made the most of it. Coach Dennis Allen mentioned after practice that he still "hasn't seen enough" of Turner to be satisfied with his play, he likes his talent and potential, but days like Thursday should make those feelings change as camp progresses.
3. Jameis on cue:
For my first ever post practice Observation (as I mentioned before, it was pretty slim pickings action-wise Thursday), during media availability, tight end Adam Trautman was asked about quarterback Jameis Winston. Trautman was very quick to point out Winston's leadership qualities, his attention to detail, and that he had never seen a harder worker. No sooner did he mention that, Trautman told the media, "and there he is"…everyone turned around to see Jameis by himself (soon joined by quarterback Ian Book) across the field doing sprint work with a resistance band and anchor in the end zone behind him. He did about 10-15 of those short bursts (without a knee brace) and moved to long sprints. Just thought I would share seeing that with the readers to prove that everything positive that's been said about Winston's work ethic isn't just lip service. Thursday, you saw it in action.