Arthur Rooks The Who Dat Daily.Com/Saints Contributor

New Orleans,LA – The New Orleans Saints are nestled into camp and cautiously preparing for the 2020-21 NFL Regular Season. Coach Sean Payton did a teleconference yesterday expressing his thoughts on several team related issues. The coach talked about the teams mindset while going thru training camp and preparation exercises. Among some of the topics discussed this is what the coach had to say on a few interesting issues.

Question: How are the rookies acclimating? Answers: “Yeah, I think it’s gone pretty well. We went through a week and a half of walkthroughs and meetings. So you’re giving them basically the installation schedule and then today was the first time essentially where we put helmets on. It was pretty much, again a walkthrough, but a little bit more practice structure, if you will, and I feel like that this young group is doing good, especially in light of not really having to do the mini camp that you normally would have in the spring. At some point here, when we go to pads, we’ll start back at the beginning and truly go through a training camp install, but I feel like overall, John (DeShazier), it’s gone well.”

Question: Can the Saints remain as one of the top teams in the NFL in turnover margin? Answer: “Well, look, it’s (a) good question. Last night, was one of our first team meetings where we illustrated that relative to the last three years. It’s a statistic in our league that each year kind of holds true. And so I know that those have been positive numbers for us. Last year, offensively, I think we had eight total giveaways, which I think’s never really been done before relative to a whole season. And we’ve taken it away, defensively, but the point in the meeting last night was, here is how we fared over these last three seasons and coincidentally or maybe not coincidentally, here is where we fared in the turnover game plus and minus, offensively, defensively each of those seasons. And so it’s still one of the most important elements to our game.”

Question: What are your thoughts on LB Alex Anzalone? Answer: “Well, look, I do think he’s a young player that we have high hopes for. He’s had some nicks and injuries, but I think the recent surgery had went very well. He has extremely good football IQ, and he has very good range. So I know he’s excited to be feeling as healthy as he has (in) quite a bit and I’m just as excited for him. I do think he can be a real good player for us. And we’ve seen signs of it already, but I’m as excited about it as he is.”

Question: Thoughts on NFL Face Shields for the players? Answer: “Well, look, some of the polls were in kind of. Today’s the first day with helmets, so it probably is a little early for me to give just the feedback from players. I think some of the players are trying them. I think some of the challenges is just the air you’re getting as you’re in competition and you’re playing. We’ll work through some of that. It’s not mandatory, it is an option. These guys have all kind of seen the model in the locker room where if they want, the equipment guys to put it on their helmet for a practice, they can do that. So I do not have the feedback yet, but I know one of the challenges is just the ventilation.”

Question: Thoughts on College Football & Scouting talent for future seasons? Answer: “Yeah, this time of the year, normally our scouts would be here at training camp, they’d be out of practice evaluating position groups, and then beginning to get assignments in the preseason, relative to the other teams. In other words, they’d be helping the pro department with the task of evaluating the other rosters. The challenge with that, we’ll start with that before we get to the college game. The challenge with that is you don’t have the preseason games to evaluate. So back to the college right now, not having had a chance to really follow it. There obviously seems like a lot is happening there and in a fluid way, with some conferences versus others. I don’t know that we’re planning on seeing scouts on the road anytime soon and so we’ll have to adjust accordingly. I think there’s quite a bit of uncertainty, it appears relative to, what conference you’re playing in and whether or not you’re going to have games. There’s a lot, you know, I am getting the news just as you are. But we will have our personnel involved, any way, shape or form and obviously they will have more time, the college scouts, I am talking about will have more time to evaluate game video of these players last year and if they are playing this year. But I think that’s part of our adjustment.”

Question: Thoughts on Safety Marcus Williams development? Answers: “He’s someone we feel like that can turn the ball over (back to the offense). He has good instincts and range he can break and each year we’ve been able to see that his instincts on the back end. I think he’s got to work on his tackling. He understands that and he’s got to be better in that area. But I think each season we’ve seen steps that have really helped our defense and we like the combination now when you start looking at smart players like him, Malcolm (Jenkins), those guys on the back end that have played (a while) I feel like you’re now getting to a point where his experience is showing. And hopefully the ball production continues and then he continues to work on, you know, some of the things. Like every one of these guys have got areas we want to really improve in and I that’s the one area I think that that he needs to be better at. I think he himself would say that.”

Question: Thoughts on recently signed LB Nigel Bradham? Answers: “We feel like he gives us some flexibility and experience. We’ve only had him out on the field here for a short time because, he had to go through the onboarding process. But I think he’s someone that could give us some versatility. I think it’s going to be important. He helps us in the kicking game and we’ve had a chance to see enough of him on pro tape to get an idea of what we’re getting and the player. I think he can run and once we get the pads on we’ll get a better feel first hand up close to see him as a player.”

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