July is rolling along across the NFL, and we’re counting down the days until Saints training camp in Southern California. The rookies will report on July 16 and the veterans come in the following week on July 23. UC-Irvine will play host for the New Orleans practices this year, as renovations continue at their facility.
There’s undoubtedly a lot of things that we’re going to be paying close attention to in camp, and we looked at the biggest questions we wanted to see answered by the Saints over the duration of camp leading up to Week 1 of the regular season.
As we do every year, we look at the biggest position battles of training camp ahead for the black and gold. There may not be as many prominent ones as there have been in past years, but they are absolutely important ones. Here’s what we see, based on the structure of the roster and all of the OTAs and minicamp sessions.
Considering the uncertainty outside of Erik McCoy at center and Cesar Ruiz at right guard, there’s three spots that are up for grabs on the Saints offensive line. Now, we’d expect Trevor Penning and rookie Taliese Fuaga to start somewhere, but their exact positions are not set in stone. The left guard spot is also a question mark, as Nick Saldiveri had the early favorable look there, but we should keep tabs on veterans Oli Udoh and Lucas Patrick.
In order for this Klint Kubiak offense to work, New Orleans has to have a strong offensive line. Training camp should give us a better idea of who distances themselves, and as history has taught us, will also show us the best contenders for the ‘next man up’ roles.
It’s Jake Haener vs. Spencer Rattler in a battle for who backs up Derek Carr. Unlike previous seasons, New Orleans opted not to go with a more expensive veteran for this role. Should anything happen to Carr, the duties would presumably fall on either a second-year player or a rookie. We’re not completely discounting Nathan Peterman, but the Saints have somewhat made it clear who is in the running for No. 2. The Kubiak offense is designed to help Carr take less hits than what he did last year, so in theory that should help him be available more. Regardless, this is one of the top battles to watch.
Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed are the top threats at receiver right now for the Saints offense, and then everything else is up for grabs. A.T. Perry enters his second year and looks to build upon the back-half of last season, while veterans Cedrick Wilson Jr. and Equanimeous St. Brown look to carve out a role for themselves. In particular, Wilson Jr. has been the featured slot guy during the early process, so we should keep looking for that. Rookie Bub Means should only make more impacts as we get into training camp, which would include special teams.
We haven’t seen Stanley Morgan Jr. in action yet, and undrafted rookies Mason Tipton and Jermaine Jackson could make things interesting. At worst case, you’re looking at potential practice squad players. The big questions for New Orleans are how many receivers they end up carrying and if they add to the room at all.
