New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees - 2018 Training Camp Presented by Verizon - Saturday, August 4, 2018

So, quarterbacks just throw it up to Tommy Lee Lewis because he's the kind of guy to go up and get it?
"Yes, he's our big range target. He made some plays today. It was actually good to see a guy like that. He's been in the system. I really have a ton of trust or confidence in him. He's a smart guy who knows that he can play every receiver position and obviously (with) his size, speed, quickness you like to be able to move him around and create matchups with him and I think if you ask any of the DB's. I don't know if he's a real exciting guy to cover for them just because he can do so much and obviously he has some pretty good straight-line speed as well. But yeah, man when we needed him today he obviously made a ton of plays in seven on seven and then at the end making the big play in the two-minute (drill.)" 

How about you working with Cameron Meredith after practice, he's been on the field a lot up until the last few days, but what is it that you are trying to accomplish with him?
"I think we're just being careful with him because he's coming off the knee (injury) obviously and just I think anytime a guy is coming off an injury like that you just want to take it slow and monitor the reps. He's a pretty smart guy. So, we're constantly talking about a lot of things and even the days he didn't practice were kind of taking that time just for him to see that ball come out of my hands and getting used to catching it. Talking about different concepts and locations and this is where I expect you and this is what I'm seeing. I want you to see the same thing, just get on the same page, building the chemistry."

I would assume this is the way you want it, but do you see the competition kind of ramping up each day getting a little bit more competitive?
"Yes, because more of the install goes in too. So, when more install goes in you are able to create more situations. So, today was a two-minute (drill). So, you talked about two-minute situations and how that is such an important factor in each and every game. Throughout the course of season you say seven or eight games or more are going to be determined on that last drive, that last possession and whether it is us trying to score it or us defending it. That is a key situation. We have been through third down, then you talk through base and then you are adding pressure defensively. They are adding new installs everyday we're adding new installs and so each day it's like this new challenge you're absorbing what you installed yourself and then you're having to recognize what the defense is now doing. They're just doing a good job mixing the personnel and doing (a) bunch of stuff. So, yeah, this has been a challenging camp and really competitive but at the end of the day I feel like that's what really helps prepare you for the season."

Going against him every day, your impressions of Marcus Williams so far?
"Continuing to take his game to another level. I really love everything about him as a teammate and as a young player who is just hungry to be great. He is definitely a presence and a force in the deep part of the field. You have to know where he is because he's got such good range and such good instincts. There's teams you play against where you can get away with staring it down for a little bit longer. But, I would compare him, just as you look at guys in history, if you ever (were) playing against Ed Reed you had to do a great job of looking off and trying to get him leaning one way so that you could (make the play) and still you throw balls and be like how did he get there. Marcus makes some of those plays where you're like how did he get there, where did he come from. So, you just see constant improvement a lot of that is just knowledge of the game. The best safeties are the ones that can anticipate and (a feel on the safety's part where) I've seen this before and I know where it's going, and you get that extra step or that extra lean one direction or the other. That is the difference between making the play and not making play." 

Mike Thomas, his practice habits, he looks like he is going 100 miles an hour out there on every play, how much of that makes him who he actually is on the field?
"It's everything. I mean every rep is a Super Bowl rep. So, think about it if you approach every day like that and every rep like that you get to the game and the game is just another rep. It's not like you have to get yourself ready to kick it up another notch. No, I mean he's used to operating that way. He's used to visualizing how to win on every play and then actually going out and doing it. So, then you come the gametime and man it's just like it just comes very naturally because that's just the way he prepares."

The last few interviews you did with LaDainian Tomlinson and Colin Cowherd you talked about last season and you savored every moment because you never know when it will be your last, do you feel with your family, with Brittany, the boys and the girl that they kind of feel it coming, do they say anything on game day that makes you feel a little more special because that there's not that much time left and you can feel that they feel that same way?
"I have had real conversations with my wife over the last couple of years just talking about it, at some point and when. She looks me dead in the eye and says 'we all support you with whatever you want, you play as long as you want to and we will be right here'. So, that part of it makes it like, I can go to work every day and know that. Yeah, my family misses me. But, they also know that I'm here to accomplish something that I want to make them proud of too because they're as big a part of it as anybody. When I do step away from the game, we'll all know that we gave it our absolute best. We gave it all. I love the moments I have now where my boys can come to practice, come in the locker room and steal (Marshon) Lattimore's gloves out of his locker, stuff like that. Those are the moments. Those are the things that I hope that they remember. I want them to come out watch guys like Michael Thomas practice and then I can look at them and say 'see guys, what you see on gameday happens here every day in practice', because they all want to be little stud athletes, right? There's just so many life lessons that can be learned from being around this game and being around the guys and being around the locker, so I try to savor those moments too. Enjoy every second of it while we can."

What are home game days like in your household in the morning?
"I hear it secondhand from my wife. Obviously, I am getting ready for the game at the hotel, but yes, it's pretty much craziness, mayhem. They get up and put their uniforms on and who knows who they are going to be that day, just whatever they are feeling. They go and get their uniforms on, and inevitably, they are playing a game in and around the coffee table. Just waiting for a head to get cracked open or something you. It's just craziness. Usually I hear the stories afterward, but they're having the time of their life. They get to watch the game and then afterward, basically, I come up to the family area in the Dome and there's basically a game taking place between Ted Ginn's son, he's in on it and Beau Lowery (and his son), and other people in our organization. Then you take it to the field and it's kind of like the game after the game on the field too. I'm sure you guys have seen them out there a bunch. That's a special part of this too."

We tried really hard last year to find comparisons for Alvin (Kamara). Do you think what he did last year, that he's really just incomparable?
"We try to keep the guy humble, but he can some things. He's made a couple cuts in this camp where I'm just like…He's got a skillset that's very unique, very rare. What I love most about him is his approach and his demeanor. I don't think he's getting too far ahead of himself. I think he understands what it takes to be a great player in this league. I think he has got a great mentor, veteran, and teammate in Mark Ingram. Mark's traveled a tougher road to get here. (In the) Beginning of his career, bitten by the injury bug, was kind of part of that backfield with Pierre (Thomas) and (Darren) Sproles, just kind of sharing time. We weren't quite sure what we had until maybe year four or five from Mark. To his credit, he just stuck with it, got better and better and kind of turned himself from being a just in between the tackles back to an every down back. Maybe things have come a bit more naturally for Alvin (Kamara), but there's that process that takes place with the preparation and everything else. You never going to win out there just on raw talent, alone. I think Alvin (Kamara) understands that and he's intelligent. One of the most intelligent guys I have been around. When it comes to just absorbing the game and then being able to go out and execute it and only telling him something one time. Our communication is really good, both outside the huddle, in the huddle and at the snap. I'm standing there in the backfield, we're having these conversations at times. It's just one day at a time with him, but man, you feel like he's a weapon that defenses have to figure out a way to deal with." 

How competitive is it facing this defense right now?
"Ours? It's very competitive. They're trying to breed an attitude and a culture over there and come together and establish an identity just like we are as an offense. We've got a bunch of new faces. Receiver position guys that are going to have to step in and play some pretty big roles for us (are challenged). We're all kind of trying to find each other still at this stage in camp and define the roles. Obviously, there's a lot of football you have to play and, gosh, we haven't played one preseason game yet, right? More than four weeks before week one, but I like the path that we're on right now."

Andrew Luck talked about how he's leaned on you and asked for some advice coming off a shoulder injury. What were some of the things you tried to share with him?
"It is a tough deal because if he had not gone through that before, especially an injury to your throwing shoulder, you're unsure what every little feeling is. At some point you just have to trust when you can push through and just a process by which you get to the point where you're competing again. It is a long process. It is a long, hard process and it is as much up here as it's just the physical nature of fighting through that rehab. Andrew's (Luck) a bright guy and a tough guy. He's a guy who more wants to be available for his team and be around, so I know how devastating that was for him last year to miss a season. I know he has worked extremely hard coming back. I think I have already said it, him and Darren Sproles, are my two picks for comeback players of the year, because I have a little insight on the way those guys have been working this offseason. I just tried to give him some insight as to what to expect with the rehab process. Maybe help him find people that could help him through that process and get back to where he wanted to be."

Who reached out to who?
"A little bit of both." 

When was that?
"I'll let him tell the story, but we spoke prior to last season and we spoke a few times after that as well."