Saints Kick Off 2010 Minicamp

The New Orleans Saints kicked off their 2010 minicamp on Friday morning. The two hour workout, which started outdoors and was forced into the club's indoor practice facility due to heavy rain was the first of five practices over the weekend. TheSaints then returned to the indoor field for an afternoon workout that lasted approximately an houra and 45 minutes.Following practice, head coach Sean Payton discussed the first workout and other recent developments.

New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton

Friday, June 4, 2010

Media Availability transcript following minicamp practice #1

How is Jeremy Shockey?

"He's doing well. We held him out today unrelated to last week. We held him out today because he had some back spasms. Last week he was dehydrated and all the tests came back. Basically his blood sugar count was low and he had that fainting episode. What's holding him back right now is just his back. It's something that probably in the last 24 hours it began to twinge on him and we're going to just play it day to day with him and make sure that he's ready but that's unrelated to what happened a week ago so the good news is from a test stand point, he's healthy, he's just battling the back. We have to get him ready."

Was it a seizure or dehyrdration?

"He was dehydrated. His blood sugar count was real low. He had finished practice, and he was in the weight room. He just finished his set on the bench press and felt faint. They got him hydrated, did all the tests, and fortunately, they all came back positive. Right now it's really the other thing that he's working on and working on rehab. We are just trying to calm it down and make sure he's healthy. We've got a pretty good stretch here in the next two weeks."

The fainting episode or back spasms are not long term things?

"No, the back is something we are going to take day to day. It's something that he's had before and it's something that's been aggravated in the past day and a half, so we will just play that day by day, and we'll get him out here sooner rather than later. Really three days here and then a series of eight more practices after that. So, we'll just play it by day and see how he's feeling."

What's your response to this back and forth Twittering throughout the team? Do you want it to stop?

"We mentioned this a year ago, with the Twitter and a lot of these other means of communication. Really, when you Twitter, it's a press conference and I think it's something that we talked about a year ago and it's something that we talked about this week. Bottom line is that we're sitting here in June, and so I haven't really paid that much attention to it until the last, really, 24 hours. The various comments going back and forth, I just think it's fairly silly that we are sitting in the month of June talking about two players. It would be different if they were texting each other but I don't anticipate it being any more of an issue, but it is something when you decide to. I don't have a Facebook or a Twitter, or any of those other things, but when you decide to do something like that, you are having a mini press conference. We make sure the players understand that."

Do you think it's fairly silly that we're talking about it?

"No I don't think it's fairly silly that we are talking about it. It's a game that we open up with Minnesota. I think that just the idea that that's just the way it did with two players, a tight end and a safety going back and forth. I think they got a pretty good relationship and I'm sure in the beginning it was something that was fairly harmless in how they approached it. That being said, it is something that once you decide to tweet anything it's just like we are standing here, just picture 100,000 more people. That's the way they have to approach it and that's the way our team has to approach it. And regardless of who it is or what position they play, it's just not something that we endorse, certainly."

With Pierre and Jammal not being here—does this catch you off guard or what's your situation?

"No, there's no update, and I wouldn't say it caught us off guard just because we didn't have them in the last OTAs. WE work really with the guys that are here and certainly you'd like to have everyone in your mini-camp and yet I'm sure there are a number of teams with the same issue with different positions and it is what it is."

And those guys won't be fined or?

"No, they will not be fined, and they aren't subject to either. It would be different with a player that signed and chose not to attend then they'd be subject to be fined.

How's Malcolm doing?

"He's doing well. He's an intelligent player, so a position move for someone like him who's a thinker on the field can become mentally easier and I think he's handling it, handling the snaps that he's getting, he's getting a lot of them right now. Osama Young is getting a lot of snaps and I think it's a good thing. The one thing that we know is that he's a pretty good football player. He's working hard and handling the adjustment."

Greg Paulus?

"We wanted to look at him, we knew we only had in this camp we were only going to have just the three quarterbacks. Number one, it gave us another 3 day period to look at him, evaluate him and number two, it gave us a fourth quarterback to work with here so we weren't just limited to three in our numbers. He was here for the rookie camp and did a good job. He's a pretty good decision maker."

Is he on a try out basis?

"Yeah there's a couple guys, he's one of them, that can come in on a three day on a workout basis and then we'll see. He did enough things in the rookie camp to impress us and he's handled the install and picked things up pretty quick."

Number 83—is he another one of your tryout players?

"It could be another receiver that's on a tryout basis. I don't have the name in front of me, he might be one of the guys that eh—we had one receiver that wasn't able to go because of the flu but I don't have him on my list."

With Pierre not being here, does that give you a better chance to look at a guy like Lynell Hamilton or do you already know enough about him?

"It gives you more snaps with him and it gives him a chance to get more reps. He's still battling through a little bit of his hamstring, Lynell that is, and when a guy like Pierre is not here, certainly, the whole position group scoots up in regards to the amount of snaps that they get. So, yes, to answer your question, the thing with Lynell is just getting him to where he's a hundred percent. He had a little hamstring issue he's dealing with from about a week and a half ago and he's still fighting through it, but it does give him some more snaps and it really gives the whole position group more snaps."

How comfortable did you feel with him—Lynell?

"Pretty good. We've seen him now for two seasons* *and we've seen him in preseason games and in some critical spots a year ago at Buffalo throughout the year he's handled the ball and we've really not hesitated putting him in short yardage or putting him in goal line and we do have a confidence level in what he can do. He's a guy that's here everyday in the offseason. I can't think of many times I walk through the locker room and I don't see him or his street clothes hanging in his locker. He's spent a lot of time getting himself ready for this opportunity and he is someone we have a lot of confidence in.

You've said a couple times that you don't care at this point how someone got here, you just want to see how they are going to do from here on out. Given your roster stability, it's going to be pretty hard for somebody to make this team, isn't it?

"Well, I think this, we try to as best we can just go by what we see and that's a pretty good period of time of evaluation that we're starting now that we'll go through in the OTAs, the next two weeks, really four weeks of training camp and every year there's going to be a player that produces at a higher* *level than you expect and every year there's going to be a player or two that you might expect to be at a certain level that isn't quite there. We just try to put them in an environment where they have a chance to compete and really for us to evaluate their skill sets. It's something that's kind of serves us well to date in regards to players and I think also it's important for the locker room, those players understand that the process of acquiring the player is one thing, once they're here, then it's changed a lot. Now it's really, I've given them the opportunity to be successful and really keep our eyes open. Certainly, with the veteran team, it becomes more challenging, maybe than it was four years ago, but I still think there will be some players that will push for spots and push for playing time."

Talk about balance between knowing you're the defending champs and keeping that in perspective

"I think it's a great opportunity for the fans number one. It's really their first time. When you look at the access that they typically get it's during training camp, it's the season, gameday. There's a stretch of football where you go through the offseason, the draft, there's really no practice and it's a great time for them to come back out. A lot of these people wait for these opportunity to take their children to practice. I can recall as a kid going to watch the Eagles or the Bears when they were in their camps and my father taking me. I think it's a great opportunity for our fans to see the whole roster. They've heard and read a lot of what's been written, but they haven't had the chance to put their eyes on the team in a while. From that standpoint, each year it seems that the bleachers get bigger and the crowds get bigger. I think that's a good thing. I think that you should be a lot more concerned when nobody is coming to practice."

Sean, what message do you intend..

"That's a good question. The trick is when you always have 80 going to camp, and the number 80 is firm, and you begin to sign the draft picks, and you begin to reduce, and your final number count is 80. There are no exemptions like there were three or four years ago with the European league. You're always looking where you can go in that position. Can you bring any extra specialists in? I would say that our punter and kicker are a little more entrenched in their positions. A year and a half, two years in. Year in for our punter, two years for our kicker. I don't really know if we'll bring any additional kicker in. A lot of that will depend upon the health of a guy like jimmy Wilkerson, and whether we need to bring in an additional end because of his ability to start on time or not or the health of a couple of those players. We haven't decided yet."

Health of Chip Vaughan and Stanley Arnoux?

"Well there a lot further ahead mentally as to what we're doing, how we practice, our routine. Physically, they're both coming off of injuries, and both are anxious I'm sure to get acclimated and prove themselves with the opportunities. It's a little hard to do that right now without the pads on, but both those players are going to have plenty of snaps in training camp, and they'll use this time period to get the rust off, if you will, and get ready. Both of them are players that we look at like a redshirt player. Where Robert Meachem didn't really get quite the look his first year. Hopefully those two guys can stay healthy and do some things."

Sean, given the expectations of the fans, what would you tell them as far as the message goes. I know last year you talked about smelling greatness, should they expect greatness this year? What would you tell them?

"I think this is an exciting time for the organization and I think the fans sense that. We have a standard that's set high, and I think that's something that our players, coaches, and the whole organization has embraced, and we look forward to the next challenge. The unique tie to our team and this city is something different, and I think today will be exciting for them just to get out there and watch our guys practice. We have a long way to go before we start, but we're looking forward to the start of the season. We're looking forward to the challenge. I know they're excited about it, and that's good."

Coach, talk about the play of your two backup quarterbacks. What did you see from them today?

"Well, both Chase and Sean are picking things up. It's a little bit of a growing process for them. In Sean's case, it's all new. Chase's case, he spent most of the snaps last year just running the scout team reps. Because of the numbers, they're getting a lot of work. They're getting 5 or 6 snaps per period depending on the amount that we run in these team drills. You can watch film, you can open a playbook and study, but until you get out there and really work with the live bodies going, it's hard, especially at that position. They're picking it up, and they're doing a great job."

New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton

Friday, June 4, 2010

Post-Minicamp Practice #2

Has Jimmy Graham taken advantage of the opportunity to catch balls from Drew Brees and work some with the ones?

"He's getting a lot of work. Today and tomorrow we're doing a lot of base personnel groupings so that means we're in '21' and some '12' – two-tight end work. For us the key is finding a handful of packages that we think suit him, packages that would suit David Thomas or Jeremy Shockey. Jeremy got walk-through snaps today and went back in. He's feeling better. I was encouraged just seeing him out here getting the walk-through. But I do think that (Graham) is a guy that we're giving some snaps to and the timing with he and Drew is important. Just like you're seeing Patrick (Robinson) get some snaps. Some of these guys that we've had for the better part of three weeks now; the rookie camp, the OTAs and they've been quickly being brought up to speed."

What is the learning curve for Graham with his mostly basketball background?

"He's picking it up. For someone who hasn't played as long, he's handling the adjustment pretty well."

Is Charles Brown 100% healthy?

"He's close. We have him at limited, which means he's going to get snaps. We just have to mindful in how much we give him, knowing that he's coming off the hamstring. He'll see those snaps increase in the next 10 or 14 days, which is really the period that we have. But he's limited right now. He's getting some work; we just don't want a setback and the rehab is going well. He's going to be able to get snaps before we break here and go to training camp. He's one of those players – I think Devery Henderson is another one, and Jon Stinchcomb – that we'll have a chance to monitor and get snaps in. There's a group of players that we're hoping to give more work here before we break for the summer before two-a-days. He would be one of those guys."

Can you talk about the development as a coach of Joe Lombardi?

"He came to us as an offensive quality control coach. When we lost Doug Marrone, we promoted Pete Carmichael to coordinator and Joe Lombardi was promoted to quarterbacks coach. Both he and Pete do a real good job preparing the meetings, preparing the quarterback installations. A guy like him wears a lot of hats. He's real thorough and he's a guy that has passion for what he does. The uniqueness of his story was to see him after the Super Bowl with his father and his brother having the opportunity to share in a moment with the trophy that was named after his grandfather. He's doing good."

What have you seen out of Jo-Lonn Dunbar so far out here?

"He's experienced. He's been with us long enough to where he's a guy that knows exactly what he has to do. He has to contribute not only in the defensive line of work, but also in the special teams. He's one of those players, along with Jonathan Casillas and Stanley Arnoux and Troy Evans – those guys are all competing for playing time."

How did Dunbar do in those games last year when Scott Fujita was out?

"He did well. If you recall, he actually played the year before, too, in a starting position. So it's not new to him. Although he's young, he's had a number of game snaps. I would describe him as someone who's disciplined and pretty smart in regards to his assignments."