Welcome in to the New Orleans Saints Podcast, presently by Seacake. You'll hear from players, coaches, broadcasters and writers did cover the NFL on a daily basis. The New Orleans Saints Podcast starts right now. Here's your host, Aaron Summers.
First week of OTAs took place this week Tuesday through Thursday. As was with the off season programming. So far, the players have seemed really energized by the work. Head coach Kellen Moore said that it's all been by design.
Yeah, Yeah, I think we're really conscious of being really efficient and the workloads that go into this, and so Ted Rath is one of the best in the business. I truly think he's the best from a sports performer standpoint, and so certainly he's a guy that I'll lean on with connection to the training staff. And so we've had longer days and so this day was kind of a
fast day. This is our third day in a row that we're really conscious of being reallyffishing with these guys on and off the field, get them to, you know, still still go for it. We limited some of the space and so allows our guys to recover in a really good way that you know, coming off of this four day weekend, we'll be able to attack it again.
A lot of focus during this teaching period is on the quarterback room. More announced Thursday that second year quarterback Jake Hayner suffered an injury and will be limited going forward.
Just kind of one of those things that happens. Obviously I do everything I can to make sure those things don't happen. But this first time I've ever had a you know, soft tissue deal, you know, pop up, So just trying to monitor it. It's not going to be something that keeps me out for camp or anything like that. Unfortunately, be down, you know for OTA's which obviously is you know sucks, but you know, I'm not going to sit
here and feel sorry for myself. Get better, do the rehab, go through the process, and you know, be ready to go for camp.
What can you do to stay ready and stay in it and be a part of the quarterback room without being able to be on the field.
Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing a new offense, new system, new terminology, is be here early, get my treatment done, don't miss meetings, and then you know, just take the mental reps when I can. When I'm on the field and watching and just be around for the guests.
What stood out to you so far about Kellen Moore's offense.
It's very similar to what I ran in college, which is a good thing, and that's a positive note that I'm taking Kirby his brother and the same thing. Very similar concepts, a little different terminology, but protections are you know, very similar concepts, very similar. So it's all the stuff that's helped get me here. So I feel confident with it, and you know, I'll be you know, excited to run it.
For training camp.
Hayna had taken some first team reps prior to his injury, as did rookie Tyler Schuck and second year quarterback Spencer Rattler will be Rattler and Schuck going forward, who split those first team reps until Hayner is healthy. After practice on Thursday, Chuck spoke about getting comfortable with the players around him and his progress.
So far good. It's been really good, just getting to know everybody, get in chemistry with the guys. I think it's been the biggest thing is you got new faces. Obviously you're building the new instaus every single day, So been feeling really good about that. Starting to just kind of connect with the guys even more.
And you're rotating in and out with Spencer right now, with the ones hainer before. But how has that been, trying to get acclimated to different groups of guys.
It's been good. I mean, as part of it, you got to go in there and operate. You got to taste of that in mini camp. You got brand new faces, expectations, you got to go out there and perform. And I love it. And I think you just see the level of play here with Alba and Sheet and the kind of veterannus that we have at all line. It's really
really cool to come in and operate. I feel a lot more prepared, you know, being kind of an older rookie coming in, you know, not being as nervous to develop those relationships, but knowing that's my whole job is to continue to earn my role and do everything I can.
While we are intrigued with the quarterback room, we also want to know what this Kellen Moore offense is going to look like. All three quarterbacks gave some insight into the Kellen Moore scheme and how quarterback friendly it is.
Yeah, I mean I think it's very key be friendly in the sense where he's gonna get his quarterback completions early.
You know.
I think in the RPO scheme, the RPR scheme, being able to get early completions, you know, to the skilled players early is a part of his game. If you go only to turn the tape on, there's a lot of easy completions to get into a rhythm right off the bat. And then I think they do a good job of you know, talking to their passers, understanding when to take the shots, you know, when they present themselves,
and really understanding the why behind it. But then look, it's a pure progression system, just like a lot of the systems now in the NFL. But like I said, I think the one thing that differential differentiates this system is there's the bubbles, there's the RPOs, the quick throws. Some of those things you don't really you know, take into account. But as a passer, it feels really good to get into a rhythm early, to be able to get some of those explosive plays by not having to
throw it thirty forty yards down the field. So I think those are the things that you know, can help separate it and incorporate be another extension of the run game.
I would say there's gonna be answers for most everything that you're gonna see, you know, whether they're finding different ways that scheme up runs or get into different passes, or take loads off of certain people. The quarterback, the line. I think he does a really good job of complimenting each position and allowing everybody to go out there and
play fast while still giving you a toolbox. And I think I think where I've had the most success in my career is having that toolbox, but ultimately letting your talent go go.
Sean feel great. I think we play fast, play with tempo RPOs. QB is gonna be able to use his legs like you've seen what he's done with QBS in the past. You know, I don't want to give away too much, but it's been it's been great, man. I think the receivers, the tight ends, the running backs, everybody's gelling well with this offense and O line as well. I mean, like I said, it feel smooth, feels good
out there right now. Obviously got to install more, but you know, we're pretty deep into the playbook and it feels good.
More as stated since he became the head coach how important line play is. He's reiterated that constantly, saying you got to build from the inside out. Set it again on Thursday, taking a look at that line and how it's been configured so far, we have seen first round pick Calvin Banks Junior moving from both sides, right tackle, left tackle, and in spent a lot of time at left tackle this week while Tali sa Puaga was at right.
Trevor Penning has been working in at left guard. More said, Penning absolutely has the skill set to play guard, and the goal is to build continuity on the line throughout the off season.
I think one thing with the offensive line is that group has to be really, really interconnected, and so much of it is verbal, but so much of it's nonverbal. Those guys are in combinations and working together more than probably any other group in this entire game. You know, the right tackle on the right guard spend so many times in combination blocks and they have to be perfectly aligned and hit it at the same time and have these you know, verbal communication, but at times there's non
verbal communications. So the more time these guys spend time together jelling, communicating, being on the same page is a huge, huge advantage for any offense in this league.
I sat down with offensive line coach Brendan Nugent to dive further into how the OL is progressing, goals for the off season, and Nugent's return to New Orleans. Coach, thanks for joining me on the New Orleans Saints podcast. It's second time around for you, looking around the building, the people here. What's different?
Uh, cafeteria that's different, that's probably the biggest change, But a lot of stuff is the same.
You know.
Obviously it's a first class facility, so it's nice to know what you're kind of walking into, and you know, knowing a lot of the people, familiar faces, how things operate, you know, that always helps for you.
What do you bring that's different this time? And you've had some years away, gone a couple of different places.
Sure, that's uh, you know, it's what I tell the players all the time too, Like I'm always learning as a coach too, So you know, been gone three years, experience some different situations, different organizations, been around different coaches, picked up a few different things, you know, from technique standpoint, drill standpoint, even from a scheme standpoint about how we're coaching stuff, so always evolve and always trying to stay you know, chase chasing the edges always and you know,
stay ahead of the game. And so probably there's a few things a few of the guys who have been were with me before have noticed. They've said, oh, we didn't do that before. It was like, yeah, just something we've learned over the time. So it's been good.
Yeah, it's funny. I was talking to Caesar Ruiz at the Golf Classic on Monday and he brought up having played with you before, and he's like, oh, that's my guy, and so you have familiarity with a lot of the guys on the line, but how have you seen some of them like Ruiz and McCoy grow.
Well, it's it's been awesome to watch from afar. You know, I had those two guys when they were young, you know, Caesar just in his rookie year, Eric for a couple of years, but you know from Afar, you know, you see him in film study throughout the league and just watching those guys get better and better each year each game.
You know, it's kind of it was exciting for me to come back and it was like, man, there's and still feel like there was more to get out of them, right, And that's kind of like the greatest greatest thing we do is we can get these guys just a little bit better and playing a little bit better, and that's you know, especially when they're playing well to begin with.
So that was that was exciting for me coming back, having the familiarity, knowing how they had progressed, and can't wait to help him progress even more.
Why did you want to come back here?
A couple of reasons. One, we love this area, you know, we're here, my younger two kids were born here, you know, we spent seven years here, fell in love with the place. And then, probably more importantly, it's the organization. I know, it's a great organization. It's people I know. And then I believe in Kellen. You know, I've got the opportunity
to work with him for the year. You know, I believe in how he views it, how he goes about it, what he's about And so that was a big, big factor in saying, Hey, yes, let's let's come on back. Let's do this thing with Kellen and an organization and a place that we know and love.
So Coach Moore said that, and he said this many times before the draft, that you build it from the inside out. And he's really big on the line put any pressure on you, how do you approach that.
I'll take it. I'll take any first round pick you want to give me, I'll take right. I don't do it as pressure, right, Like, everybody's got to put five guys out there, and you know, we talk about it as an organization here, right, it doesn't really matter how you were acquired, what round, free agency, whatever, Right, we're going to find the five best guys. So building it from the inside out. I love that because that is how the game is won. But I don't feel any
pressure with it. I just feel like, yeah, because we need to. If you can't do it up front, then nothing else on the outside matters. So we need to be able to handle things up front, and I'm all for it.
You have a couple first round picks now on that line, most recently with Kelvin Banks. He's moved a couple different positions. What have you seen from him that you've liked so far?
It's everything we kind of learned about him in the pre draft process, kind of at an organization, you know, it's kind of as advertised, right. He's smart, he's got great character, he's tough, he understands football, understands a big picture, right, and then he's a really good athlete and really good football player who still has potential to even get even better. And he works at it right, He's not afraid to try stuff, not afraid to keep working and grinding through it.
So it's been good, and you know that's the fun part for us is trying to find the best combination of those five you know that's going to give us the best chance to win.
Last year we saw it's Holly, I say, log up flip sides and he did very well. Trapper Pennies moved around a little bit. At what point do you need to feel comfortable with where people are?
I would say sooner than later. You know, were's still in May right now, so we kind of have a little bit of flexibility to kind of try some different combinations and move guys. But I think, you know, ultimately, just having done this for a lot of years now, the sooner we can get those five guys, and especially the guards and the tackles working next to each other because they developed that rapport and that relationship, so it'll
happen sooner than later. But we're still have some flexibility with just where we are in the in the off season right now to work with some of those things.
With the quarterback room and that being up in the air, not knowing who the starter is going to be. There's chemistry that has to be developed there with the line as well. What do you talk to your alignment about and how they can approach that so things are easier for whoever is back there.
Sure you know it's at the end of the day, the quarterbacks in general, right, Like we say, everything runs through the line, but he's the general out there. So you know, the way we go about it is, hey man, we got to learn all of these guys. We have to learn their nuances, their cadences, right, and that's all us to figure it out, right how whoever, however that unfolds, we got to be ready to go with any of them.
And so that's not you know, obviously them like they'll work to all try and be similar with cadences and how they call plays, but everybody's different. But that's on us as a unit to be able to figure out all those guys and be ready to roll with however that shakes out in that room.
When you were here last as the offensive line coach, one hundred and thirty one sacks, surrendered first in the NFL and tied for the most rushing touchdown, So the line was really working. Then how do we get back to that?
Just hard work, you know, it's it's a combination of Look, it's at some point changes and have a ble in this business. You can just look at my career over the past four years and see that. But you know it's again you just come in and callan said it. You know, it's a blank slate. Everybody's got a blank slate. And so now we just slowly build this thing up right from the ground floor and then we just get back to playing Saints football like we know it is
and that we have the talent to do. Now, we just got to make sure we put it all together. And it's just, you know, it's an old cliche, but it's just one day at a time and just hard work and keep getting better and better and better, and then all of a sudden things just start going and then they click and now we're rolling and running all right.
So you were a linebacker how did you end up coaching the line?
So about twenty two years ago. Now I think my math might be off. I had coached high school ball for one year. Back in my high school, I coached linebackers and quarterbacks, and then I got a job offer at the University of Iowa, and it was kind of working with the offense, but a lot with the O line, and so I kind of learned a little bit there. And then throughout the course of the years I was in college, I coached pretty much every position on offense
except quarterbacks exclusively. And then when I got to the NFL thirteen fourteen years ago, whatever it was, the job was with the O line, and I've been there ever since. So I kind of got a background in it, you know, my first college job, and then kind of always kept learning, always intrigued by it, and you know, worked with tackles and tight ends and difference spots, and then you know, just since I've been in the NFL, I've kind of learned from the ground floor up in the old line room,
and it's I'm passionate about it. So I love doing it. I love being in that room with those guys.
How much does it help having somebody like Jaria Evans then, who did play the position at extremely high level right there alongside you.
Oh, it's great. Like I've said this before to other people, like I've learned more about this position from players than I have truly from other coaches who have coached it right. And it's like I said earlier, like I'm always learning. I'm an open book. I want to know, Hey, Jari,
how'd you do this? So having somebody like that who's about to be a Hall of Fame player right about to be in the Hall of Fame as a guard like that, is just to rely on that and have that in the room and say, you know, how do you see it from a player's perspective, Joh, how did you do this right? It's invaluable.
This is the first stage of OTAs. What's the next few weeks look like as we progress towards mandatory mini campus What you would like to see from the line?
Sure, you know, it's the way we're kind of structured here. You know, it's a lot of emphasis on individual drills. For us, it's an old line, not a lot of team more of a walkthrough tempo team setting at the end, which for us is great because we can really boil it down to like the nuts and bolts, Like we could start slow and truly progress through the fundamentals and not have to dive crazily into scheme early, so we could really like, hey, make sure our fundamentals are on points.
So over the next couple of weeks, even leading into mandatory mini camp, we'll just keep building, you know, slowly on those fundamentals, make sure we got them right before we go on to the next one, and then as we intertwine the scheme with it, it all kind of makes sense. So it's just all building towards training camp.
And then when we get the pads on.
When we get the pads on, we're rolling. Hopefully we've created enough of a base here in the offseason fundamentally right, we won't abandon them, and training camp will still work them, but it'll be more of an emphasis on, all, right, let's make sure our fundamentals are on point, and then dive into the scheme and how we're doing stuff in the specific techniques and stuff like that.
With Eric McCoy and the way that he's just anchored this line for so long, has knowledge of the game, how valuable is he with the youth that you still do have there.
Great Eric is a vital piece for that, right. You know, he's unquestionably the leader in that room. You know, he was strussed in the starting position his rookie year, so he's seen a lot of football from a lot of
different perspectives. So he understands the game and he communicates outstanding, and he can get to make sure everybody's on the same page at all times, right, And that's valuable, especially right when you have a young group like you said, where he could just make get everybody on the same page, and it's just tomming presence, especially when he's out there.
Well, we're looking forward to the rest of OTAs and to see how this line shapes out. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for having me.
Establishing that chemistry with the line and quarterback will be important. The chemistry between the quarterback and the wide receivers will also be key. And the best play that I saw during the open portion of OTAs on Thursdays was from rookie Tyler Schuck. He pump faked it, threw it down the right sideline to Rashid Shiheed about fifty yards. Rashid is fast. Shuck got the timing right and the connection was perfect.
Yeah, yeah, we just had a little double move on. You know, we're building through the installs, so naturally, you know, shorter based plays right in the beginning. We'll start kind of get into more exotic ones. But yeah, it's been good to develop dot Camra Street with the guys like Sheet and He's you saw him go out there and go make the play, so he's he's got some some big playability.
I think our receiver room's got excellent people, excellent talented players. They all work their tail off, and I think they're really really good communicators. And so you know, Ceo Sheed, you know, even the guys who've been you know, Cooks, he's been in this league for a long time, Dante's been in this league, said, you know, there's a bunch of guys. You know, a bunch of guys. I can
go on and on. It's a really good group. And I think that quarterback room, that receiver room spend a lot of time together, which is ultimately what you want.
Lots of good work to build off of. Already, as the Saints put the first set of OTAs behind them, those three practices. They'll have those four days off this weekend for the holiday weekend to rest, recovers, spend some time with some family, give tribute to the Memorial Holiday, and we'll be back next week with another open date on Thursday, where we'll have another Saints podcast to break down everything that happened, what's being said, and what's being
worked on. Thanks so much for joining me on this edition of the New Orleans Saints Podcast.
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Saints Podcast presented by Seat Geek. Join us three times per week on New Orleans Saints dot com, the Saints Mobile app, or you can download the podcast on iTunes. We'll see you next time right here on the New Orleans Saints Podcast presented by Seat Geek