New Orleans Saints Roster Has Not Improved Yet, But New Coaching Staff Has

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The New Orleans Saints' 24 offseason approach may not lead to a better roster, but it certainly gives us an idea about how unsuccessful the 2023 offseason DATE approach was. We got all that and a little bit of land yet for you on today's episode of Locked On Saints.

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What is good, Hoot Nation Nation and Hootad PERSON family. I'm your host, Ross Jackson, New Orleans GPE. Native, your New Orleans GPE Saints expert and credential member of the media covering those New Orleans Saints ORG as the senior writer and reporter over at Saints News Network ORG. And on today's episode of Locked on Saints ORG, I'm going to tell you a little bit aboutwhat we're going to be looking for at rookie mini camps. Even though we're not going to see a lot, there's still some takeaways that I'm hoping that we'll be able to get from that time. I'm also going to explain to you why, even though the New Orleans Saints ORG roster may not necessarily have made a marked improvement over the course of the offseason, that the team can still get better. And actually, I want to start with that idea of the marked improvement on the roster. Why do I feel that they haven't madethose types of improvements and why it tells us that the New Orleans Saints 2023 offseason DATE approach was mostly unsuccessful. We got all that coming up for you on today's episode. We appreciate you very much as always for making us your first listen of the day every day. And being in every day here on Locked on Saints ORG, which is a proud part of the Lockdown Podcast network, your team every day. And today's episode of Lockdown Saints ORG is brought to by friends at Game Time ORG. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the promo code Locked-on NFL for $20 offof your first purchase. Terms apply. So as I look at where the New Orleans Saints ORG have done most of their off-season work to this point, free agency, the draft, all that, I got to say that I don't really feel that the Saints ORG roster has made a significant or even a marked improvement in terms of its talent based on unknowns that we currently have being added to this New Orleans Saints ORG roster. But I don't necessarily think that that's a bad thing.I think it's bad to get worse. I don't think it's bad to stay basically the same. I think that it also goes to show the approach that the Saints ORG have taken here in the 2024 off season that the approach they took in the 2023 off DATE season was unsuccessful. And look, missing the playoffs for a third year in a row, probably already told you that. You're going, well, yeah, of course, Ross.I know, I know, I know. But let me explain. From 2022 into 2023, the Saints decided to retain Pete Carmichael PERSON as their offensive coordinator. I'm sorry to bring back bad memories, but let's start there. When they did that, the first thing that I said was, what the Saints ORG are telling youis that they believe that the personnel was the problem, not the coaching. This year, going from 2023 into 2024, after, you know, going out finding the new quarterback, after kind of rebuilding different going out finding the new quarterback, after kind of rebuilding different plate pieces on the roster, making sort of bigger roster changes in 2023 than we've seen here in 2024. They now come into 2024 going, oh no, we have to redo the roster. We have to redo the coaching staff now.So they spent that time revamping the roster, but not revamping their coaching staff, particularly in the offensive side of the football. They made some defensive coaching staff changes, defensive coordinator, all that, which was wise to go from two defensive coordinators to one defensive coordinator. But in 2024, they haven't made drastic changes on their roster outside of the ones that they were basically forced into making attrition leading to them, departing players, leading to them having to fill holes, things like that. But I'd argue that there are still holes that they haven'taddressed yet on this roster. And instead of making the roster changes, the personnel changes, trying to boost the talent on the roster, they go with the coaching staff. And they revamp the coaching staff for good reason. And they revamp the entire coaching staff, with the exception of Clancy Barone PERSON, when it comes to the major decision makers, position coaches, offensive coordinator. He's the only one.That's a holdover. You got some offensive assistants, Jari Evans PERSON, all them that hung around. But coaching staff, offensive coordinator coordinator position coach-wise, Barone PERSON's the only one to hang around. And for a good reason. So I think what the Saints are effectively doing here is a two-year process of don't havethe coaching staff, don't have the roster, go and get the roster in 2023. Then they get into 2024 and they go, okay, got the roster, maintain the roster, or as much of the roster as you can, go get the coaching staff, especially with Dennis Allen being so connected to Kubiak PERSON family, all those other things. Like this was the perfect opportunity for them to go and get the offensive coordinator that they wanted in Clint Kubiak, who wouldn't have had the year with San Francisco ORG if theywere to hired him into the position last year. I don't even know if he was an OC candidate last year, right? So I don't even know if he was part of those conversations. So I think that that's what this tells us is that it tells us that the different approach and message from them from 2022 to 2023 was unsuccessful. And now they're having to do more here in 2024's offseason. So what will it lead to?Well, it hasn't led to an improved roster, but it has led to an improved coaching staff. So we'll get to that in a little bit about how the coaching staff can help to improve and how the Saints ORG could still benefit their roster if they decided to, you know, get Froggy and leap a little bit. But if we look at this position by position, or position group by position group, I think it's hard to make arguments about the Saints ORG making big improvement. So what I'm going to do, because I know sometimes I'll say something like this player has a lot of talent and could potentially push for a roster spot.And what people hear is, oh, you're out here trying to say that he's the greatest tight end to ever play the game. No, no, no, no, no. You're taking it from like 40 to 100 very, very quickly. So let me do it this way. If I look at the New Orleans Saints offensive line from 2023, starting at week one, Trevor Penning, James Hurst, Eric McCoy, Seasurway, is Ryan Ramchick PERSON, right? James Hurst PERSON has since retired. Trevor Penning, James Hurst, Eric McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Ryan Ramchick, right? James Hurst has since retired. Trevor Penning PERSON was a question mark, all this stuff.Ryan Ramchick PERSON might medically retire. We'll see what happens there. But in any case, with those five, let's just give them a point value of 72 last season. Doesn't matter if we agree or disagree, anything like that. I don't even know if I agree with that, but I'm just going to give them a point value of 72. Then we flip that to this year, Trevor Penning PERSON at left tackle, big old question mark at leftguard, Eric McCoy at center, Caesar Ruiz at right guard, and then Taliescei Fuongo PERSON, who we expect to be the starter at right tackle if Ryan Ramchick PERSON is not ready to go, which at this point doesn't look like Ryan Ramchch PERSON is going to be ready to go. I'd be shocked at this point if he starts, but we'll see. Can you say that they've improved to an 80 with a massive question mark at one of those positions? Can you say that they've improved to a 90 with two question marks effectively at tackle, even though we feel really good about Talia S.A. Fonga PERSON, he's a rookie.So if we put all rookies at the baseline of unknown, can you really say that they've made a marked improvement from where they were last year? I don't think you can. You can make the argument that they went from 72 to 75. I don't know how, but you can make that argument, but that's not a marked improvement, right? I'm talking about them moving into a whole other letter grades worth of increased value here. Let's look at wide receiver. Lost Michael Thomas, lost Keith Kirkwood PERSON, lost Lynn Bowden, brought in Cedric Wilson, Equanimia, St. Brown, Stanley Morgan, Jr. PERSON, all throughfree agency, and then drafted Bub Means in the fifth round. Then they retained Chris Olive PERSON, Rashid, A.T. Perry. So if we said that the wide receiver core last year was at an 82, did they move to the 90s? I don't think that they have. And that's even with me not looking at Michael Thomas as a big time impact player, right? I'm looking at him as what he was in 2023. And so I don't know that you've made the big leap to step forward. Again, that's not necessarily a bad thing.The bad thing would be getting considerably worse. Quarterback's the same. Derrick Carr, Darry Carr PERSON. You can argue about backup quarterbacks all you want. I'm not wasting my time. Derrick Carr is the one on the field.Was the one on the field last year. He'll be the one on the field this year. It's the same. Tight-ins, you lost Jimmy Graham PERSON. You add Dallin Holker PERSON. Hard to say that you improved.You mostly remain the same. You might even make the argument that they got worse because the red zone threat of Jimmy Graham PERSON is no longer present. Sure. I don't think I would go that far, but sure. Running back stay the same, although, and maybe this is the one that I look at and go, okay, you might get better here.A healthy Kendrae Miller PERSON moves the needle big time. Safety is effectively the same. Yes, you had Marcus May last year, but he played 17 games for you over the course of the last two seasons. You got better safety play out of both Jordan Houdin and Jonathan Abram PERSON. They're back on the roster and they add Will Harris PERSON. You're effectively at the same place, but you've added Will Harris PERSON.Cornerback, if you trade away Marshall and Lattermore PERSON, you get worse, period, right? Like Kool-Aid McKinjury PERSON, we got a lot of faith in him, got a lot of faith in his game, all those other things. But rookie, unknown, right? Defensive line, effectively the same. You add Christian Boyd PERSON, rookie, unknown. Linebacker, you got better.Linebacker, you got better. You added Willie Gay PERSON. But that's kind of the only place where you can really say, okay, there was a marked improvement, right? Because Willie Gay, at the very least, increases or improves your third linebacker, at the most, improves on your second linebacker. Not a bad situation there. As for the defensive line,don't fully know yet. They add Christian Boyd PERSON in the draft rookie, so he gets that unknown tag. And then Chase Young PERSON, neck surgery, neck procedure and everything like that,still kind of an unknown as well. But I think you get better there. I think that's a spot that you get better. So as I just look over these notes, I have a hard time saying that the new one thinks have gotten better, have improved markedly improved, maybe a little bit improved in certain areas, but as a whole, kind of just remain the same. And again, that'snot necessarily a bad thing because, and this is what I want to get to next, what the Saints told us this offseason, which is different from last off season, is that, hey, the roster isn't the problem. It was the coaching staff. And so then they went out and they changed the coaching staff, particularly over in the office side of the football. So let's break that down. How the New Orleans needs to get better with their new coaching staff and some moves that are still out there that I think that the Saints ORG should consider making that could improve some of these positions, particularly on the office of side of the football.We got that coming up for you. As we continue on with today's episode of Lockdown Saints for a Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This next segment is brought to us by our sponsor Better Help ORG. Look, sometimes everybody needs an opportunity to get something off their chest, whether it's big or it's small.Certain things like that can really start to get to you. So it's really good to find somebody unbiased in your life that will kind of let you let all of that out. So today I want to tell you about a little something than how I feel about it. And you might be feeling the same way this week as well. I wish the NFL ORG would just release the schedule.The schedule release pomp and circumstance is the least entertaining thing outside of maybe the Pro Bowl that the NFL ORG continuously tries to shove down everybody's throats. And I wish that they would just release the schedule. Like, just give us the schedule. Let us know so that we can all move on with our lives. I don't need a five-hour special to figure out who plays where and how many primetime games, everything like that. I'm over it. I don't need it. Look, therapy can look different from everybody. Sometimes it's not, you get bigger problems than sports schedules being released in things like that. But for thethings that are important that you want to get off your chest every once in a while, if you've been thinking about trying therapy, BetterHelp ORG is the way to go. It's entirely online, designed to be flexible, suited to your schedule. Just visit BetterHelp.com slash lockdown for 10% off of your first month. That's BetterHelp ORG, H-E-L-P.com slash lockdown. All right, family. even though the New Orleans Saints ORG roster might not see marked improvements over the course of the off season, it doesn't mean the team can't get better on the fieldin 2024. Appreciate you very much, as always, making Locked On Saints your first listen of the day, every day. You know, I want to make sure you know all about that Locked On Sports today 24-7 stream. I don't know the noise you just came out of my mouth, but I'm rolling with it. It's going to be fine. So make sure you know all about that locked on sports today 24-7 stream. I don't know the noise you just came out of my mouth, but I'm rolling with it. It's going to be fine. So make sure you go and check out Locked-on Sports today.If you've got ESPN, Fox Sports, Tart of hearing about people yelling and screaming and evaluations on baseball caps, like please, come on, let's move on. You can find it over at the Lockedown Sports Today 24-7 stream without all the yelling, but all the big stories covered by people that know the teams, the best that cover them every single day, just like we do here on Locked on Saints ORG.So make sure you go and check it out Locked on Sports Today. You can find it for free on YouTube ORG. You'd also find it on the free Amazon Fire TV PRODUCT channels app. So the New Orleans Saints ORG roster might not have improved, but as I kept mentioning in the first part of today's show, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad thing, right?Bad thing would be walking backwards, taking a lot of steps backwards on your roster. I don't know that I can conceivably say that convincingly say that the Saints ORG have done that. Just like I can't convincingly say that their offensive line went from 72 to 80. I'm also not sure that their offensive line went from 72 down to 60. Now, it might be down to 68 because they don't have a starting left guard and that's got to mean something.But outside of that, all these other positions, staying the same at quarterback, effectively staying the same at wide receiver, though losing Michael Thomas, but adding some other people that might be able to help to fill the volume of that role, which again, was not that much in 2023. Tide in remaining the same, running backs effectively remaining the same, but you get the healthy Kendra Miller. We broke down the defense too. I don't think anybody really, any unit really took major steps forward in terms of massive boost in improvement like a, you know, like a T. Higgins PERSON trade would have improvedthe wide receiver room or like a drafting a Tyler Newbin PERSON would have improved the safety room or whatever. Like those are convincingly big moves. But the losses that the Saints had this offseason as well were mostly rotational guys or guys that contributed on a secondary or tertiary level with the exception of Marcus May PERSON. But because of his injuries, suspensions, things like that,you didn't really notice that he was that you're not even probably going to notice that he's gone. And so I don't think that the sinks really took many steps back either. And I think that that's important. Because as we highlighted, the Saints are saying something different about their roster in 2024 than they said about in 2023. But they're also saying something different about their coaching staff in 2024 than they said about 20203 in that they fired all of them. Right. Like let's just call it what it is. The Saints ORG fired their entireoffensive coaching staff with the exception to Clancy Brown from 2023. You don't just do that. And don't get me wrong. Actually, they didn't fire the entire group, right? Joel Thomas got another gig over in New York GPE, all the other stuff. But for the most part, they moved on from everybody on their offensive coaching staff. And so that's where I think that the Saints ORG are looking at improvements. I think what the Saints are saying now, which is different than what they were saying last year, forgive me if I'm repeating this. But I do want to make sure that I drive thishome because I think that this is really like the big thing here or amongst the big things here is that what they're saying now is that it wasn't the roster's fault. And if you'll remember as we went through like the entirety of the 2023 season, what was the mantra? The roster is talented, but the coaching staff hasn't taken advantage of that talent. That was the criticism for at least like the first 10 or so weeks of the season. And then everybody kind of started to get on the, well, I guess it wasearlier than that that everybody started to get on the Derek Carr PERSON thing. But even there was like a, like the VIN diagram was larger when it came to those criticizing Pete Carmichael in the system and those criticizing Derek Carr PERSON. And then eventually it kind of all became Derek Carr PERSON after a while. And I'll leave you to believe or or decide what's fair, what's not fair. For me, everybody shares in the blame. But everybody kind of moved off the idea that it was the coaching staff. And I don't, I never moved off of that because I don't think that the Saints ORG ever really figured it out.I think that the players figured it out. But I don't know that Pete Carmichael PERSON ever really figured it out, figured out how to use the offense and use the players on offense. Like, why was Rashid Shaheed PERSON deployed out of the backfield, you know, once in week one? And then like never again for the rest of this season. Why did we see motion against a New York, New England Patriots ORG, but then not see it again fora few weeks? Why do we see Tassum Hill utilized to, you know, perfection in one game and then forgotten in the next game. Why do we see runs on second and ten after incomplete passes? All these other things, right? So I think that the thing that I want to highlight out of all this is that the Saints ORG have made a wise decision here and said, you know what? It's the scheme.It's the philosophy. Let's go in instead of trying to recapture old flames, let's go and get a scheme that works for today's players. And I'm not even talking about the idea of like going into modernity or going into the modern era of football, all these other things. All things that are the modern era of football were also the 70s era of football,which are also the 60s era of football, which are also the 90s era of football. Like we just ebb and flow and like things become more popular, less popular than they become more popular later again and all these are things. Like, the idea of getting into like the modern day NFL ORG is like, it's a convoluted conversation, but it's a good talking piece and it's a good barrier to you, or not barrier, but barometer to utilize whatever you seeing in today's NFL ORG and how do you capture that, even though it's alljust rehashes of older things and more traditional things. But I'm glad that the Sinks ORG went that route. And so I think that that's the thing that they're looking at to say, okay, here's how the team improves in 2024. Keep the roster as intact as you can, which again, the Sings ORG didn't have many big time departures.I didn't factor Andrews Pete, the loss of Andrews Pete into the offensive line because he didn't start week one. But he's another one of those losses, right? You got to make sure, I got to make sure I include him there. And so I think that that's the way that they find that is they try to keep the roster as intact as possible going for 2023 and a 2024 because from 2022 to 2023, they said, oh,it's the roster. And then they fixed the roster. But then you didn't change the scheme. And then the roster performed the same way that the roster performed before in the same scheme. Shocker, the scheme didn't change.Therefore, the results didn't either. So now in 2024, you're hoping that the scheme change also brings the success. And again, this is a mostly offensive conversation because the same's defense is stellar. Like, it's still good. Like, they have to improve as a run defense, sure, but keeping points off the board has to be the number one priority. And so the passing defense being good has to be, you know, a big focus. And so we'll see if they can improve the run defense.But even if they can't and they hit the 20s, the 15s again, they should still be a top 10 defense. We said that last year. That ended up being the case. Now, I do think that the Saints ORG have other moves that they could make that will still improve their team. I maintain that going out and signing Dalton Reisner PERSON would immediately make this team'soffensive line better. Now, not, sorry, let me be more specific. Let me be more specific. Because making your offensive line better than it is right now, not a statement. But I think that adding Dalton Reisner PERSON gives you the potential to make your offensive line better than it was last year.Because Trevor Penning should be better in 2024 than he was in 2023. That's just how time works. Talia se Fuong is probably a better option right now than 2024's version of Ryan Ramcheck that's dealing with this stuff that has the medical question marks. It's reportedly lost weight, all these other things. Fouang PERSON is probably just a better option right now. Not a better option 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2020, 2021, but probably a better option now.So Dalton Reisner PERSON makes your offensive line better because I think that he would be better than James Hurst PERSON. I think he would be better than Andrus Pete PERSON, the left guard version of Andrews Pete before he reached his final freeza form out there on at left tackle. I still think that that ends up boosting what you can be.And he's got familiarity with the scheme, offensive coordinator, all that. The other place that I think that that ends up boosting what you can be. And he's got familiarity with the scheme, offensive coordinator, all that. The other place that I think that you can make an improvement is still at Wide Receiver. You could do that with maybe Hunter Renfro PERSON, but boy,are the options at Wide Receiver now low with Tyler Boyd PERSON off the market. You trade for Traylon Burks PERSON. I don't know if that makes your team better. I think he's a massive question mark too. So I don't know. But maybe that's another place where you can go out there and find some improvement.But you do those two things. You do one of those two things. You improve the offensive line. You add another veteran there, whatever. That's not just shingling you and Justin Heron PERSON. We'll see what happens with them.Don't get me wrong. But, man, you go out there and find a guy that's a bona fide starter at left guard. Then all of a sudden, yeah, okay, we can have a conversation about how not only did the offensive coaches have improved, but the offensive line improved. And therefore, the offense should be better. But right now you're relying on the scheme, very much relying on the scheme, which is a differentmessage than what the Saints sent last year. We'll see if it all comes together for them. Go up next. What are you looking for in rookie mini camps? Well, first of all, I want to see Spencer Rattler PERSON throw. We got all that coming up for you as we continue on to wrap up today's episode of Lockedon Saints, part of Lockedon Podcast Network, your team every day. want to wrap up today's episode of Lockdown Saints, part of Lockdown Podcast Network ORG, your team every day. Today's episode of Lockdown Saints is brought to you by our friends at Game Time ORG. I'm recording this here on Wednesday night for the Thursday episode, and this is an hour before Nikki Minaj kicks off over at the Smoothie King Center, opened up the GameTime ORG app, $44 for a ticket.$44, an hour before the event kicks off, and that's probably going to drop even further right when the event starts as well. That's why I love game time. I can be spontaneous. I can say, you know what,I'm going to go and check out the Nicki Minaj PERSON concert. I can buy a ticket for $44. I can save by doing so. It just doesn't get any better than this. I didn't have to plan for months.I only had to plan for moments. And it's moments like this that I'm really, really grateful for game time if I wanted to go to a Nicki Minaj PERSON concert. Now, if it was Kendrick or even if it was just Metro playing BB Aldrizzi PERSON over and over again, I'd go. I'd go to check that out.So make sure you go and check out game time today. It's also great for your NBA ORG tickets as well with the NBA being in the playoffs if you're in an area where there are still there's still playoff basketball being played unlike here in New Orleans GPE. Download game time app today. Create an account and use the formal code locked on NFL for $20 off of your first purchase.Terms apply again, create an account and redeem code LOCKEDO and NFL for $20 off. Download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. Let's get it,otad Nation ORG you know I might not get to see a lot over at mini camp no offense versus defense But boy there's still a lot of takeaways that we're excited to see while we get out there Later on this weekend for New Orleans Saints mini camps on airline drive so let's break down some of the things that we're looking at seeing. Starting off, of course, with Spencer Rattler PERSON throwing a football. We appreciate you very much, as always.Make a locked on Stain PRODUCT. Your first listen of the day. Every day, don't forget we are your team every day. Be sure you come back tomorrow. We're going to be breaking down more of what we expect to see during rookie mini camps. And of course, giving you more on the biggest stories from around the New Orleans Saints ORG.And I want to start off with Spencer Rattler here today because he's the guy that most everybody's excited about, right? Like, this is, this is like the pinnacle example of the most popular player on any football team is typically the backup quarterback. And when it's a rookie backup quarterback with a high ceiling, this is a different, that takes it to another level, right? It's a whole different monster, a whole different beast. So Spencer Rattler PERSON is somebody that I'm looking forward to seeing at rookie mini camps.Again, as I've made well known, I've had my reservations around him throughout the draft process and all those other things. So I'm excited to see him with my own eyes off tape, see him on the field, seeing the velocity when he lets the ball go, see the way that he, you know, gets everybody together. I want to see him and Jake Hainer PERSON be more assertive than the veteran quarterback and Nathan Peterman. I'm also curious as if Derek Carr PERSON is going to be there. We'll see.But that's the thing that I'm really looking forward to seeing with Spencer Raller PERSON. It's not just about like what does the ball look like when he throws it. That's fine. I can see that on tape anytime. But how is he working with Andrew Janoko PERSON? How is he working with Clint Kubiak PERSON? how is he working with Andrew Janoko? How is he working with Clint Kubiak?How is he working with those wide receivers? Does he take a leadership role? Is he the vocal quarterback instead of the veteran and Nathan Peterman PERSON and all that? And look, the saint just moved on from one of their veteran quarterbacks like we've been saying that they were going to do eventually. And look, it'll only be a matter of time before they move on from the other one too. But Kellyn Mon PERSON now released.Not a part of the organization any longer. Team moved on from him less than a month after they brought him in. And that's not surprising. Like him and Nathan Peterman PERSON were kind of brought in because their ties to either players that are there, Nathan Peterman's PERSON case, coaches that are there in both of their cases, they were guys to come in and kind of help bridge the gap between Derek Carr PERSON and AndrewDonoko, Derek Carr and Clint Kubiak PERSON, all that. And really, the offense and those guys, too. And that role now, it was short-lived for Kellyn Monde after the New Orleans Saints ORG drafted Spencer Rattler in the fifth round, which just kind of felt like the writing was on the wall at that point. That's one of the reasons why I had a lot of people come to me and say, oh, my God, the Saints have six quarterbacks on the roster. They have five quarterbacks on their roster. What are they thinking?Who cares? Who cares? It doesn't matter. It's the 90-man roster. They're not going to bring five quarterbacks onto the 53-man roster, and it's not keeping them from adding anybody on to their roster because if they wanted to add them onto theroster, they would just add them on to the roster anyway and then move on from somebody else. So it didn't really impede them from doing anything, but we always knew that those two veteran quarterbacks probably weren't going to hang around for a super long time. And that certainly ended up being the case for Kellynne Mond. And now we get to see Spencer Rattler PERSON and we get to see Jake Hainer PERSON and we get to see the battle for QB2, which I think is firmly implanted between the two of them. No offense to Nathan Peterman PERSON. But like we've seen what Nathan Peterman can and can'tdo at the NFL level, I think that right now when it comes to Jay Caner and Spencer Rattler PERSON, that's probably your battle. That's probably your battle going into the QB2 conversation. Next thing I want to see is the beginning of what is sure to be the offseason of Bub PERSON means. Bub means the wide receiver out of Pittsburgh ORG, I feel like is going to be one of thosetraining camp all-star, training camp superstars, just because like people aren't super familiar with what his game is and all those other things, having played at Pitt ORG, having bad quarterback play over there. Like, there's so much that we don't really know about Bub Means PERSON. That has nothing to do with Bob Means PERSON,but has everything to do with the system that he was in, the situation that he was in, all that. I believe, if I remember correctly, Pitt ORG initially got their quarterback as a transfer from Boston College ORG and finished the season at an entirely different position by the time that it was all said and done. That's how bad the quarterback situation was at Pitt ORG.So could Bob Means PERSON be a better pro than collegiate player? This happens all the time. It happened with, help me, help me, help me. You can't because I can talk to you. You can't talk to me. The BYU wide receiver that went to the Los Angeles Rams ORG.You know who I'm talking about. Sorry. It could happen. It could happen for Bubmeans PERSON. And it all begins with rookie minicamp, right? And that'll be our first opportunity to really see him out on the field,get a glimpse at what it is that he could be, couldn't be, whatever it might be. But we can't really like base huge assumptions based on what we see here because there's no offense versus defense. They're not running, they're probably not going to even run routes full speed for the most part, things like that. There's just going to be certain things there that's going to be kind of throttled back. We're only going to be able to see so much. But hey, getting to see an early look at Bub PERSON means and where he's, you know, how he's being utilized, all these other things,where he's running routes from, all that could be interesting. Let's go to, oh, of course, Talley, S.a Fuong PERSON, I want to see the athleticism. I don't even need to see him touch anybody. I'm cool with that. I don't need to see him going up against the defensive line. I just want to watch him move, dude. Like, watching him on tape is so impressive. I want to see him move IRL in real life. I want to see him do it. Like, that's going to be super fun for me. And I did that's going to be a big thing thatyou're looking at going into this one because that was the thing that made Ryan Ramchick so special was the athlete, was the elite athleticism. My apologies. And so I'm hoping that with Talley PERSON, we get an early look at that elite athleticism that he packs as well. Oh, how about Dallin Holker? Get an opportunity to kind of see all the different things that he can do. We get to see those big long arms and the catch radius and all those other things. Again, we're not going to be able to see him beat coverage. We're not going to be able to see him make contested catches, all those other things. But if we get an opportunity just to seehim run some routes, if we get an opportunity just to see what his build looks like, if we get an opportunity to see the catch radius, does he go up and snag one somewhere or whatever? Like, those are things you were going to be looking for. And again, like, I'm not trying to go like zero to a hundred on any of these guys on any of these guys or anything. Well, I am. I'm in between zero to 100. I'm not trying to go 100 on any of these guys, UDFAs and stuff like that. I know that like that's something that tends to be the assumed case. But that's not really what we're going for here. It's that like can telllan Holker PERSON start to provethat he could be a 40. You know what I mean? 40 out of 100. Like can he prove to be a 40 and everything. And it's like good. That means that he can fight for a spot and he can, you know, try to raise his floor and all those other things. So it's because it's an opportunity to really see, like, are the things that we think making, make Dallan Holker PERSON special, the things that really make him special? And is he able to bring that from college to the NFL ORG?We get an opportunity to see a little bit of that this week. And then maybe we'll get an opportunity to see a little bit of who the younger options are on the roster at left guard, right? I don't know if Nick Sal DeVary PERSON is going to be out there or is even going to be able to be out there depending upon how long his rehab process is over the course of the offseason, all those other things.But with it being a rookie minicamp, he might not even be out there. He might not be showing up until bet minis. But in whatever case, like, who are the other guys that they're cycling in there, right? And I did a little name mix up between Kyler Braw and Kyle Hurgle PERSON. And Hurgle is the guy that I was thinking about out of Boston College ORG, the interior offensive lineman that is somebody to watch at left guard or on the interior as a whole.So getting an opportunity to see him, getting an opportunity to see sincere Hainsworth and where he ends up playing. Hopefully at center, we get to see him there and things like that out of Tulane. So I think that those are all things that I'm really interested in seeing. And obviously the offensive line, trying to just figure out who the young pieces are on the offensive line is really important. The Saints ORG also not only moved onfrom Kell and Mom, but they moved on from Tommy Kramer PERSON, another offensive lineman that spent most of the time on the practice squad last year, played in three games, mostly at for special teens purposes, field goal, extra point kind of kind of units. And then also spent like seven snaps at right tackle and then one snap as like the jumbo tight end or whatever, a couple snaps as a jumbo tight end. And so they moved on from him.But now they moved on from him and James Hurst retired, Ryan Ramchick PERSON. We'll see what happens with him. Andrews Pete doesn't get re-signed. The exodus of offensive linemen, the attrition of offensive linemen is notable. So getting to see some of those younger guys, maybe hopefully Mark Evans out of UAPB ORG, like, do we get an opportunity to see him a little bit more in his second year at rookie minis?I'm just curious to see who's going to be kind of like involved in that conversation so that we can get ready to see who all will be in that rotation come training camp as well. So look, again, we're not going to be able to take away who's good, who's bad, out of training camp and all these other things or murky mini camps. We won't be able to take away who's good, who's bad, out of training camp and all these other things, or murky mini camps. We won't be able to take that out of training camp either, by the way. But we're going to be able to take that out of mini camps.But does give us a little bit of insight in terms of like where things lie for the New Orleans Saints ORG as they begin to lay down the building blocks of the scheme, which is maybe the next thing that we get a little bit of a glimpse at is. which is maybe the next thing that we get a little bit of a glimpse at is just, do we notice anything different in terms of how they're installing, what the language is, things like that, all that will be interesting as well. Like the Saints ORG aren't going to show their hand at rookie minicamp. You know what I mean?It's very vanilla. But there might be things about the process that are different during rookie mini camps that stand out. Like which coach is the loudest, all those other things that you want to see, right? So that's what I got from Ricky Minicamp PERSON. So I hope you enjoyed today's episode. This one was fun for me. I hope it was fun for you as well. Just take a look at like where the Saints ORG really truly are. And even if those improvements haven't come in droves, the way that you might have hoped, it doesn't necessarily mean that they've gottenworse either. Like those are two different conversations. So we'll see if they can find a way to improve the product on the field. And it all begins this weekend with rookie mini camps excited to bring you those reports all throughout the weekend. Appreciate you very much as always for making Lockdown Saints ORG a part of your day and a part of your routine. And of course, making us your first listen of the day here every single day. Make sure you go and check out Lockdown Pelicans Lockdown, LSU as your second listen today. So like I mentioned, thank you very much. As always, making Lockdown Saints ORG, part of your routine for saying yes to meand the show. As always, if you see me, please say hi. And if you need anything else around your new Will & Saints ORG in between these episodes, make sure you follow me on your favorite social media at Ross Jackson PERSON, N-O-L-A. Hit me up, let me not a family's doing how you live and let me know how you mom and them. And trust you that nation, I'll holler at you.

Speaker 01940.6s - 1949.18s

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