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Saints Minicamp News


myhousekey
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Brees to take part in drills at Saints' minicamp

But quarterback will continue to go slow with repaired shoulder

 

Friday, June 02, 2006

By Mike Triplett

Staff writer

 

Saints fans will get their first chance to see quarterback Drew Brees in action this weekend, but it will only be a glimpse for now.

 

The Saints don't plan to overwork their new investment, who is five months removed from surgery to repair the torn labrum in his right throwing shoulder. He will take part in various drills during the Saints' three-day minicamp, but he won't go full speed in team drills.

 

The team will hold five practices today through Sunday at its practice facility in Metairie. Both of Saturday's practices will be open to the public, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

 

"You won't see him gunning 20-yard out routes," Saints coach Sean Payton said of Brees, 27, who has been progressing very well during his rehabilitation, including some work during last week's organized team activities.

 

Brees has been driven to return ahead of schedule because he wants to participate fully in training camp and because he wants to prove something to the teams that doubted his health when he became a free agent.

 

But Brees and Payton have said they will practice caution in his workout schedule.

 

"Hey, part of the decision in signing him was understanding what type of player we were getting," Payton said. "He's smart enough to understand long-term goals, but at the same time he's aggressive. We'll continue to monitor him."

 

The Saints will have several players on the field this weekend who are returning from injuries, including tailbacks Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush.

 

McAllister missed the final three months of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Bush missed almost all of last month's rookie minicamp with a minor hamstring injury.

 

Payton said McAllister won't be "full go" this weekend, but he'll be involved. He said McAllister did more during last week's activities than he expected.

 

Others returning from major injuries last season include return specialist Michael Lewis (knee), safety Jay Bellamy (shoulder) and offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb (knee).

 

Among those who won't participate or who will be limited this weekend are receiver Donté Stallworth (shoulder), defensive end Will Smith (shoulder), tight end Ernie Conwell (knee) and safety Josh Bullocks (unknown injury). All four are expected to be healed by training camp.

 

All of the Saints' rookies will be on the field except receiver Mike Hass, who is prevented from participating under NFL rules because his class at Oregon State has not yet graduated.

 

The three-day minicamp will also include two practices today and one practice Sunday that will be closed to the public. After that, the team will have two more weeks of organized workouts, which are closed to the public and the media.

 

Payton said he plans to use all of the sessions to install the offense, defense and special teams and prepare the team for the start of training camp in late July.

 

The next three weeks are the first chance for the entire team to work together since the draft. The most dramatic roster overhauls have come at quarterback, offensive line and linebacker.

 

But with an entirely new coaching staff, everyone is basically starting from scratch.

 

"We've got 11 more days," Payton said. "We're putting a foundation and some things in place that will get carried over into training camp and into the season."

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Saints set for final minicamp today

 

By LES EAST

Special to The Advocate

Published: Jun 2,

 

METAIRIE — The New Orleans Saints’ offseason regimen begins to wind down with the team’s final minicamp that begins with two practices today.

 

The Saints will practice twice again Saturday and once Sunday. Then it’s two more weeks of the individual offseason workout program that began in March before the players are set free until training camp.

 

With a new coaching staff, the offseason work has taken added significance as Sean Payton and his assistants try to learn as much as they can about their new team before beginning preseason preps at the end of July.

 

Payton has said on numerous occasions that he and his staff “aren’t married” to any players and this minicamp gives them one more chance to do up-close evaluations before training camp.

 

Most of the public’s and media’s attention will be paid to quarterback Drew Brees, who has started using his surgically repaired right shoulder in throwing drills since the last veterans minicamp in early April, and No. 1 draft choice Reggie Bush, who missed much of last month’s rookie minicamp because of a strained hamstring.

 

But the coaches will be looking closely at positions such as safety, linebacker, defensive tackle and offensive line, where the depth chart is about as organized as a game of 52-pickup.

 

The safeties perhaps best illustrate the uncertain nature of New Orleans’ roster. The team has its top three safeties back from last season — Dwight Smith, Jay Bellamy and Josh Bullocks (a second-round draft choice in 2005) — signed one veteran free agent (Omar Stoutmire) and traded for another (Bryan Scott), and has special teams leader Steve Gleason.

 

Still it used its second-round draft pick in April to select safety Roman Harper of Alabama.

 

“We’ve got a lot of guys at that position,” Payton said. “We’ve got guys that have played here and have a lot of experience. We’ve got some guys that we brought in and drafted. We want to see what we have. We’re not married to any of these guys.

“Really the competition is open. When we selected Harper in the second round, people thought, you were set at safety. We were set at running back when we selected (Bush) in the first round. We were 3-13 a year ago, so it’s hard to be set on anything until you see these guys in preseason. We’re not set on anything. I want to go by what we see.”

 

The linebacking positions are wide open. The coaches looked at each linebacker at each of the three positions during the April minicamp, with third-year veteran Colby Bockwoldt and free-agent signees Scott Fujita and Anthony Simmons appearing to lead the way. The group was weakened last week when veteran James Allen was lost for the season because of a knee injury.

 

Continuing the middle-of-the-defense theme, defensive tackle is another fluid area. Veteran Hollis Thomas was acquired in a draft-day trade to stabilize a group featuring veterans Brian Young, Willie Whitehead, Johnathan Sullivan and Rodney Leisle.

“I know the coaches are looking for a good rotation,” Thomas said. “You don’t want to beat up any one person at a time. That’s how you win games. You have to be at least two units deep on the defensive line because you do lot of running.

 

“The parts have to be interchangeable. I don’t look at numbers or who’s starting because when my number is called I have to produce. As long as you make plays, you’ll get playing time.”

 

That seems to be Payton’s approach — reputations and past performance means little, if anything, compared to what the players show him and his staff.

 

Another uncertain area is the offensive line, which likely won’t feature any player starting at the same position as last season. Payton said during the April minicamp the Saints would likely bring in additional help there.

 

The team drafted two projects in guard Jahri Evans and tackle Zach Strief and traded for veteran center Jeff Faine, who’s expected to start. But questions remain.

 

None of the other areas of the team are etched in stone, but they do appear more stable than the ones mentioned.

 

As for the offensive backfield, Brees will continue to test his shoulder as Todd Bouman and Jamie Martin, said as a free agent after the first minicamp, vie to be his backup.

 

Payton continues to develop ways to utilize Bush, the Heisman Trophy-winning running back/receiver/kick returner, and former Pro Bowlers Deuce McAllister, who’s coming off major knee surgery, and Michael Bennett, who likely would not have been signed as a free agent if New Orleans had known it would be able to draft Bush.

 

These five practices over the next three days won’t answer many questions, but they will help Payton and his staff put together a clearer picture of just what they’ll be bringing to training camp.

Edited by myhousekey
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http://www.neworleanssaints.com/newsroomar...?articleid=2508

 

Good article about Brees and his "Brees on the Seas" charity event for terminally ill children with cancer.

 

 

http://www.2theadvocate.com/columnists/ins....html?showAll=y

 

Article about the Superdome recovery/renovations.

 

Consider these numbers. From September through March, nearly 4 million gallons of water was sucked from the Superdome and its garages; 4,000 tons of trash and debris was removed; 1.6 million square feet of carpet (95 percent of the carpeting in the building) has been removed; 650,000 square feet of sheetrock (40 percent of the total) has been pulled out; 500,000 square feet of ceiling tile (30 percent of the total) has been removed; 60,000 square feet of artificial turf (all of the field’s turf) was removed; and the stadium’s 70,000 seats have been cleaned and dried.

 

 

Edited by myhousekey
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