New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Can you talk about the waiting of Sean Canfield?

"A lot of the reps went into the number two position. You'd like to get him work. We've seen enough now and saw what we had in the player. He's progressing. We'll see what happens here as we get through the final roster cutdown.  Mainly it's getting the reps to those other two players."

How good of an idea do you have on the final roster?

"Just as you guys write about the final roster, a lot of what you're writing about is accurate when it comes down to certain positions. Certainly there might be someone out there you're unaware of. You get to this point in the preseason and it gets down to what guys are going to help us in the kicking game and how many snaps we feel like the players are going to play."

What is the status of Jeremy Shockey?

"He got a ding the other night, so we practiced him some a little bit. We backed off a little. He won't play on Thursday night. He'll be fine for next week."

What body part was bothering him?

"He just got dinged on the seam pass he caught."

Are there a lot of players you won't play period?

"There will be a lot of guys we won't start that we would normally start in the last game in the preseason, but we're turning around and plying Thursday instead of Sunday. You start with people like (Drew) Brees) and Will Smith. There will be a number of those guys that won't play in this game."

Who do you want to see Thursday

"You'll see a lot of guys with the second teams. They're battling for spots, so they're going to have a lot of playing time. Some guys are going to play close to a full game. Hopefully that gives us a better look at some of these players."

Have you ever considered using Chris Ivory on kickoff return?

"Not right now. I think the thing right now is you give him a few things he can do pretty well and make sure he can do those things specifically. From a return standpoint, it wouldn't be something right now we'd want to work on. Certainly he'll take some reps in practice. That will be all."

Is Ladell Betts fully healthy?

""He's probably not as far along as Heath (Evans) and yet he's getting close. When you have that type of injury, that next year takes a while and you work your way into it. I won't say he's fully healthy, but his rehab appears to have gone well, no different than Jimmy Wilkerson's and Heath's. Jimmy's happened late in the season against us with Tampa Bay, the second to last week of the season. Ladell's happened in December."

Will he get a healthy workload?

"He'll get some reps. I don't know that it's more than 15."