Speaker 1: Welcome in to the New Orleans Saints Podcast, presently by Seacake.
Speaker 1: You'll hear from players, coaches, broadcasters and writers did cover
Speaker 1: the NFL on a daily basis. The New Orleans Saints
Speaker 1: Podcast starts right now. Here's your host, Aaron Summers.
Speaker 2: First week of OTAs took place this week Tuesday through Thursday.
Speaker 2: As was with the off season programming. So far, the
Speaker 2: players have seemed really energized by the work. Head coach
Speaker 2: Kellen Moore said that it's all been by design.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, I think we're really conscious of being really
Speaker 3: efficient and the workloads that go into this, and so
Speaker 3: Ted Rath is one of the best in the business.
Speaker 3: I truly think he's the best from a sports performer standpoint,
Speaker 3: and so certainly he's a guy that I'll lean on
Speaker 3: with connection to the training staff. And so we've had
Speaker 3: longer days and so this day was kind of a
Speaker 3: fast day. This is our third day in a row
Speaker 3: that we're really conscious of being reallyffishing with these guys
Speaker 3: on and off the field, get them to, you know,
Speaker 3: still still go for it. We limited some of the
Speaker 3: space and so allows our guys to recover in a
Speaker 3: really good way that you know, coming off of this
Speaker 3: four day weekend, we'll be able to attack it again.
Speaker 2: A lot of focus during this teaching period is on
Speaker 2: the quarterback room. More announced Thursday that second year quarterback
Speaker 2: Jake Hayner suffered an injury and will be limited going forward.
Speaker 4: Just kind of one of those things that happens. Obviously
Speaker 4: I do everything I can to make sure those things
Speaker 4: don't happen. But this first time I've ever had a
Speaker 4: you know, soft tissue deal, you know, pop up, So
Speaker 4: just trying to monitor it. It's not going to be
Speaker 4: something that keeps me out for camp or anything like that. Unfortunately,
Speaker 4: be down, you know for OTA's which obviously is you
Speaker 4: know sucks, but you know, I'm not going to sit
Speaker 4: here and feel sorry for myself. Get better, do the rehab,
Speaker 4: go through the process, and you know, be ready to
Speaker 4: go for camp.
Speaker 2: What can you do to stay ready and stay in
Speaker 2: it and be a part of the quarterback room without
Speaker 2: being able to be on the field.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing a new offense,
Speaker 4: new system, new terminology, is be here early, get my
Speaker 4: treatment done, don't miss meetings, and then you know, just
Speaker 4: take the mental reps when I can. When I'm on
Speaker 4: the field and watching and just be around for the guests.
Speaker 2: What stood out to you so far about Kellen Moore's offense.
Speaker 4: It's very similar to what I ran in college, which
Speaker 4: is a good thing, and that's a positive note that
Speaker 4: I'm taking Kirby his brother and the same thing. Very
Speaker 4: similar concepts, a little different terminology, but protections are you know,
Speaker 4: very similar concepts, very similar. So it's all the stuff
Speaker 4: that's helped get me here. So I feel confident with it,
Speaker 4: and you know, I'll be you know, excited to run it.
Speaker 5: For training camp.
Speaker 2: Hayna had taken some first team reps prior to his injury,
Speaker 2: as did rookie Tyler Schuck and second year quarterback Spencer
Speaker 2: Rattler will be Rattler and Schuck going forward, who split
Speaker 2: those first team reps until Hayner is healthy. After practice
Speaker 2: on Thursday, Chuck spoke about getting comfortable with the players
Speaker 2: around him and his progress.
Speaker 6: So far good. It's been really good, just getting to
Speaker 6: know everybody, get in chemistry with the guys. I think
Speaker 6: it's been the biggest thing is you got new faces.
Speaker 6: Obviously you're building the new instaus every single day, So
Speaker 6: been feeling really good about that. Starting to just kind
Speaker 6: of connect with the guys even more.
Speaker 2: And you're rotating in and out with Spencer right now,
Speaker 2: with the ones hainer before. But how has that been,
Speaker 2: trying to get acclimated to different groups of guys.
Speaker 6: It's been good. I mean, as part of it, you
Speaker 6: got to go in there and operate. You got to
Speaker 6: taste of that in mini camp. You got brand new faces, expectations,
Speaker 6: you got to go out there and perform. And I
Speaker 6: love it. And I think you just see the level
Speaker 6: of play here with Alba and Sheet and the kind
Speaker 6: of veterannus that we have at all line. It's really
Speaker 6: really cool to come in and operate. I feel a
Speaker 6: lot more prepared, you know, being kind of an older
Speaker 6: rookie coming in, you know, not being as nervous to
Speaker 6: develop those relationships, but knowing that's my whole job is
Speaker 6: to continue to earn my role and do everything I can.
Speaker 2: While we are intrigued with the quarterback room, we also
Speaker 2: want to know what this Kellen Moore offense is going
Speaker 2: to look like. All three quarterbacks gave some insight into
Speaker 2: the Kellen Moore scheme and how quarterback friendly it is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think it's very key be friendly
Speaker 4: in the sense where he's gonna get his quarterback completions early.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 4: I think in the RPO scheme, the RPR scheme, being
Speaker 4: able to get early completions, you know, to the skilled
Speaker 4: players early is a part of his game. If you
Speaker 4: go only to turn the tape on, there's a lot
Speaker 4: of easy completions to get into a rhythm right off
Speaker 4: the bat. And then I think they do a good
Speaker 4: job of you know, talking to their passers, understanding when
Speaker 4: to take the shots, you know, when they present themselves,
Speaker 4: and really understanding the why behind it. But then look,
Speaker 4: it's a pure progression system, just like a lot of
Speaker 4: the systems now in the NFL. But like I said,
Speaker 4: I think the one thing that differential differentiates this system
Speaker 4: is there's the bubbles, there's the RPOs, the quick throws.
Speaker 4: Some of those things you don't really you know, take
Speaker 4: into account. But as a passer, it feels really good
Speaker 4: to get into a rhythm early, to be able to
Speaker 4: get some of those explosive plays by not having to
Speaker 4: throw it thirty forty yards down the field. So I
Speaker 4: think those are the things that you know, can help
Speaker 4: separate it and incorporate be another extension of the run game.
Speaker 6: I would say there's gonna be answers for most everything
Speaker 6: that you're gonna see, you know, whether they're finding different
Speaker 6: ways that scheme up runs or get into different passes,
Speaker 6: or take loads off of certain people. The quarterback, the line.
Speaker 6: I think he does a really good job of complimenting
Speaker 6: each position and allowing everybody to go out there and
Speaker 6: play fast while still giving you a toolbox. And I
Speaker 6: think I think where I've had the most success in
Speaker 6: my career is having that toolbox, but ultimately letting your
Speaker 6: talent go go.
Speaker 7: Sean feel great. I think we play fast, play with
Speaker 7: tempo RPOs. QB is gonna be able to use his
Speaker 7: legs like you've seen what he's done with QBS in
Speaker 7: the past. You know, I don't want to give away
Speaker 7: too much, but it's been it's been great, man. I
Speaker 7: think the receivers, the tight ends, the running backs, everybody's
Speaker 7: gelling well with this offense and O line as well.
Speaker 7: I mean, like I said, it feel smooth, feels good
Speaker 7: out there right now. Obviously got to install more, but
Speaker 7: you know, we're pretty deep into the playbook and it
Speaker 7: feels good.
Speaker 2: More as stated since he became the head coach how
Speaker 2: important line play is. He's reiterated that constantly, saying you
Speaker 2: got to build from the inside out. Set it again
Speaker 2: on Thursday, taking a look at that line and how
Speaker 2: it's been configured so far, we have seen first round
Speaker 2: pick Calvin Banks Junior moving from both sides, right tackle,
Speaker 2: left tackle, and in spent a lot of time at
Speaker 2: left tackle this week while Tali sa Puaga was at right.
Speaker 2: Trevor Penning has been working in at left guard. More said,
Speaker 2: Penning absolutely has the skill set to play guard, and
Speaker 2: the goal is to build continuity on the line throughout
Speaker 2: the off season.
Speaker 3: I think one thing with the offensive line is that
Speaker 3: group has to be really, really interconnected, and so much
Speaker 3: of it is verbal, but so much of it's nonverbal.
Speaker 3: Those guys are in combinations and working together more than
Speaker 3: probably any other group in this entire game. You know,
Speaker 3: the right tackle on the right guard spend so many
Speaker 3: times in combination blocks and they have to be perfectly
Speaker 3: aligned and hit it at the same time and have
Speaker 3: these you know, verbal communication, but at times there's non
Speaker 3: verbal communications. So the more time these guys spend time
Speaker 3: together jelling, communicating, being on the same page is a huge,
Speaker 3: huge advantage for any offense in this league.
Speaker 2: I sat down with offensive line coach Brendan Nugent to
Speaker 2: dive further into how the OL is progressing, goals for
Speaker 2: the off season, and Nugent's return to New Orleans. Coach,
Speaker 2: thanks for joining me on the New Orleans Saints podcast.
Speaker 2: It's second time around for you, looking around the building,
Speaker 2: the people here. What's different?
Speaker 5: Uh, cafeteria that's different, that's probably the biggest change, But
Speaker 5: a lot of stuff is the same.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: Obviously it's a first class facility, so it's nice to
Speaker 5: know what you're kind of walking into, and you know,
Speaker 5: knowing a lot of the people, familiar faces, how things operate,
Speaker 5: you know, that always helps for you.
Speaker 2: What do you bring that's different this time? And you've
Speaker 2: had some years away, gone a couple of different places.
Speaker 5: Sure, that's uh, you know, it's what I tell the
Speaker 5: players all the time too, Like I'm always learning as
Speaker 5: a coach too, So you know, been gone three years,
Speaker 5: experience some different situations, different organizations, been around different coaches,
Speaker 5: picked up a few different things, you know, from technique standpoint,
Speaker 5: drill standpoint, even from a scheme standpoint about how we're
Speaker 5: coaching stuff, so always evolve and always trying to stay
Speaker 5: you know, chase chasing the edges always and you know,
Speaker 5: stay ahead of the game. And so probably there's a
Speaker 5: few things a few of the guys who have been
Speaker 5: were with me before have noticed. They've said, oh, we
Speaker 5: didn't do that before. It was like, yeah, just something
Speaker 5: we've learned over the time. So it's been good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny. I was talking to Caesar Ruiz at
Speaker 2: the Golf Classic on Monday and he brought up having
Speaker 2: played with you before, and he's like, oh, that's my guy,
Speaker 2: and so you have familiarity with a lot of the
Speaker 2: guys on the line, but how have you seen some
Speaker 2: of them like Ruiz and McCoy grow.
Speaker 5: Well, it's it's been awesome to watch from afar. You know,
Speaker 5: I had those two guys when they were young, you know,
Speaker 5: Caesar just in his rookie year, Eric for a couple
Speaker 5: of years, but you know from Afar, you know, you
Speaker 5: see him in film study throughout the league and just
Speaker 5: watching those guys get better and better each year each game.
Speaker 5: You know, it's kind of it was exciting for me
Speaker 5: to come back and it was like, man, there's and
Speaker 5: still feel like there was more to get out of them, right,
Speaker 5: And that's kind of like the greatest greatest thing we
Speaker 5: do is we can get these guys just a little
Speaker 5: bit better and playing a little bit better, and that's
Speaker 5: you know, especially when they're playing well to begin with.
Speaker 5: So that was that was exciting for me coming back,
Speaker 5: having the familiarity, knowing how they had progressed, and can't
Speaker 5: wait to help him progress even more.
Speaker 2: Why did you want to come back here?
Speaker 5: A couple of reasons. One, we love this area, you know,
Speaker 5: we're here, my younger two kids were born here, you know,
Speaker 5: we spent seven years here, fell in love with the place.
Speaker 5: And then, probably more importantly, it's the organization. I know,
Speaker 5: it's a great organization. It's people I know. And then
Speaker 5: I believe in Kellen. You know, I've got the opportunity
Speaker 5: to work with him for the year. You know, I
Speaker 5: believe in how he views it, how he goes about it,
Speaker 5: what he's about And so that was a big, big
Speaker 5: factor in saying, Hey, yes, let's let's come on back.
Speaker 5: Let's do this thing with Kellen and an organization and
Speaker 5: a place that we know and love.
Speaker 2: So Coach Moore said that, and he said this many
Speaker 2: times before the draft, that you build it from the
Speaker 2: inside out. And he's really big on the line put
Speaker 2: any pressure on you, how do you approach that.
Speaker 5: I'll take it. I'll take any first round pick you
Speaker 5: want to give me, I'll take right. I don't do
Speaker 5: it as pressure, right, Like, everybody's got to put five
Speaker 5: guys out there, and you know, we talk about it
Speaker 5: as an organization here, right, it doesn't really matter how
Speaker 5: you were acquired, what round, free agency, whatever, Right, we're
Speaker 5: going to find the five best guys. So building it
Speaker 5: from the inside out. I love that because that is
Speaker 5: how the game is won. But I don't feel any
Speaker 5: pressure with it. I just feel like, yeah, because we
Speaker 5: need to. If you can't do it up front, then
Speaker 5: nothing else on the outside matters. So we need to
Speaker 5: be able to handle things up front, and I'm all
Speaker 5: for it.
Speaker 2: You have a couple first round picks now on that line,
Speaker 2: most recently with Kelvin Banks. He's moved a couple different positions.
Speaker 2: What have you seen from him that you've liked so far?
Speaker 5: It's everything we kind of learned about him in the
Speaker 5: pre draft process, kind of at an organization, you know,
Speaker 5: it's kind of as advertised, right. He's smart, he's got
Speaker 5: great character, he's tough, he understands football, understands a big picture, right,
Speaker 5: and then he's a really good athlete and really good
Speaker 5: football player who still has potential to even get even better.
Speaker 5: And he works at it right, He's not afraid to
Speaker 5: try stuff, not afraid to keep working and grinding through it.
Speaker 5: So it's been good, and you know that's the fun
Speaker 5: part for us is trying to find the best combination
Speaker 5: of those five you know that's going to give us
Speaker 5: the best chance to win.
Speaker 2: Last year we saw it's Holly, I say, log up
Speaker 2: flip sides and he did very well. Trapper Pennies moved
Speaker 2: around a little bit. At what point do you need
Speaker 2: to feel comfortable with where people are?
Speaker 5: I would say sooner than later. You know, were's still
Speaker 5: in May right now, so we kind of have a
Speaker 5: little bit of flexibility to kind of try some different
Speaker 5: combinations and move guys. But I think, you know, ultimately,
Speaker 5: just having done this for a lot of years now,
Speaker 5: the sooner we can get those five guys, and especially
Speaker 5: the guards and the tackles working next to each other
Speaker 5: because they developed that rapport and that relationship, so it'll
Speaker 5: happen sooner than later. But we're still have some flexibility
Speaker 5: with just where we are in the in the off
Speaker 5: season right now to work with some of those things.
Speaker 2: With the quarterback room and that being up in the air,
Speaker 2: not knowing who the starter is going to be. There's
Speaker 2: chemistry that has to be developed there with the line
Speaker 2: as well. What do you talk to your alignment about
Speaker 2: and how they can approach that so things are easier
Speaker 2: for whoever is back there.
Speaker 5: Sure you know it's at the end of the day,
Speaker 5: the quarterbacks in general, right, Like we say, everything runs
Speaker 5: through the line, but he's the general out there. So
Speaker 5: you know, the way we go about it is, hey man,
Speaker 5: we got to learn all of these guys. We have
Speaker 5: to learn their nuances, their cadences, right, and that's all
Speaker 5: us to figure it out, right how whoever, however that unfolds,
Speaker 5: we got to be ready to go with any of them.
Speaker 5: And so that's not you know, obviously them like they'll
Speaker 5: work to all try and be similar with cadences and
Speaker 5: how they call plays, but everybody's different. But that's on
Speaker 5: us as a unit to be able to figure out
Speaker 5: all those guys and be ready to roll with however
Speaker 5: that shakes out in that room.
Speaker 2: When you were here last as the offensive line coach,
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty one sacks, surrendered first in the
Speaker 2: NFL and tied for the most rushing touchdown, So the
Speaker 2: line was really working. Then how do we get back
Speaker 2: to that?
Speaker 5: Just hard work, you know, it's it's a combination of Look,
Speaker 5: it's at some point changes and have a ble in
Speaker 5: this business. You can just look at my career over
Speaker 5: the past four years and see that. But you know
Speaker 5: it's again you just come in and callan said it.
Speaker 5: You know, it's a blank slate. Everybody's got a blank slate.
Speaker 5: And so now we just slowly build this thing up
Speaker 5: right from the ground floor and then we just get
Speaker 5: back to playing Saints football like we know it is
Speaker 5: and that we have the talent to do. Now, we
Speaker 5: just got to make sure we put it all together.
Speaker 5: And it's just, you know, it's an old cliche, but
Speaker 5: it's just one day at a time and just hard
Speaker 5: work and keep getting better and better and better, and
Speaker 5: then all of a sudden things just start going and
Speaker 5: then they click and now we're rolling and running all right.
Speaker 2: So you were a linebacker how did you end up
Speaker 2: coaching the line?
Speaker 5: So about twenty two years ago. Now I think my
Speaker 5: math might be off. I had coached high school ball
Speaker 5: for one year. Back in my high school, I coached
Speaker 5: linebackers and quarterbacks, and then I got a job offer
Speaker 5: at the University of Iowa, and it was kind of
Speaker 5: working with the offense, but a lot with the O line,
Speaker 5: and so I kind of learned a little bit there.
Speaker 5: And then throughout the course of the years I was
Speaker 5: in college, I coached pretty much every position on offense
Speaker 5: except quarterbacks exclusively. And then when I got to the
Speaker 5: NFL thirteen fourteen years ago, whatever it was, the job
Speaker 5: was with the O line, and I've been there ever since.
Speaker 5: So I kind of got a background in it, you know,
Speaker 5: my first college job, and then kind of always kept learning,
Speaker 5: always intrigued by it, and you know, worked with tackles
Speaker 5: and tight ends and difference spots, and then you know,
Speaker 5: just since I've been in the NFL, I've kind of
Speaker 5: learned from the ground floor up in the old line room,
Speaker 5: and it's I'm passionate about it. So I love doing it.
Speaker 5: I love being in that room with those guys.
Speaker 2: How much does it help having somebody like Jaria Evans then,
Speaker 2: who did play the position at extremely high level right
Speaker 2: there alongside you.
Speaker 5: Oh, it's great. Like I've said this before to other people,
Speaker 5: like I've learned more about this position from players than
Speaker 5: I have truly from other coaches who have coached it right.
Speaker 5: And it's like I said earlier, like I'm always learning.
Speaker 5: I'm an open book. I want to know, Hey, Jari,
Speaker 5: how'd you do this? So having somebody like that who's
Speaker 5: about to be a Hall of Fame player right about
Speaker 5: to be in the Hall of Fame as a guard
Speaker 5: like that, is just to rely on that and have
Speaker 5: that in the room and say, you know, how do
Speaker 5: you see it from a player's perspective, Joh, how did
Speaker 5: you do this right? It's invaluable.
Speaker 2: This is the first stage of OTAs. What's the next
Speaker 2: few weeks look like as we progress towards mandatory mini
Speaker 2: campus What you would like to see from the line?
Speaker 5: Sure, you know, it's the way we're kind of structured here.
Speaker 5: You know, it's a lot of emphasis on individual drills.
Speaker 5: For us, it's an old line, not a lot of
Speaker 5: team more of a walkthrough tempo team setting at the end,
Speaker 5: which for us is great because we can really boil
Speaker 5: it down to like the nuts and bolts, Like we
Speaker 5: could start slow and truly progress through the fundamentals and
Speaker 5: not have to dive crazily into scheme early, so we
Speaker 5: could really like, hey, make sure our fundamentals are on points.
Speaker 5: So over the next couple of weeks, even leading into
Speaker 5: mandatory mini camp, we'll just keep building, you know, slowly
Speaker 5: on those fundamentals, make sure we got them right before
Speaker 5: we go on to the next one, and then as
Speaker 5: we intertwine the scheme with it, it all kind of
Speaker 5: makes sense. So it's just all building towards training camp.
Speaker 2: And then when we get the pads on.
Speaker 5: When we get the pads on, we're rolling. Hopefully we've
Speaker 5: created enough of a base here in the offseason fundamentally right,
Speaker 5: we won't abandon them, and training camp will still work them,
Speaker 5: but it'll be more of an emphasis on, all, right,
Speaker 5: let's make sure our fundamentals are on point, and then
Speaker 5: dive into the scheme and how we're doing stuff in
Speaker 5: the specific techniques and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: With Eric McCoy and the way that he's just anchored
Speaker 2: this line for so long, has knowledge of the game,
Speaker 2: how valuable is he with the youth that you still
Speaker 2: do have there.
Speaker 5: Great Eric is a vital piece for that, right. You know,
Speaker 5: he's unquestionably the leader in that room. You know, he
Speaker 5: was strussed in the starting position his rookie year, so
Speaker 5: he's seen a lot of football from a lot of
Speaker 5: different perspectives. So he understands the game and he communicates outstanding,
Speaker 5: and he can get to make sure everybody's on the
Speaker 5: same page at all times, right, And that's valuable, especially
Speaker 5: right when you have a young group like you said,
Speaker 5: where he could just make get everybody on the same page,
Speaker 5: and it's just tomming presence, especially when he's out there.
Speaker 2: Well, we're looking forward to the rest of OTAs and
Speaker 2: to see how this line shapes out. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2: Establishing that chemistry with the line and quarterback will be important.
Speaker 2: The chemistry between the quarterback and the wide receivers will
Speaker 2: also be key. And the best play that I saw
Speaker 2: during the open portion of OTAs on Thursdays was from
Speaker 2: rookie Tyler Schuck. He pump faked it, threw it down
Speaker 2: the right sideline to Rashid Shiheed about fifty yards. Rashid
Speaker 2: is fast. Shuck got the timing right and the connection
Speaker 2: was perfect.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, we just had a little double move on.
Speaker 6: You know, we're building through the installs, so naturally, you know,
Speaker 6: shorter based plays right in the beginning. We'll start kind
Speaker 6: of get into more exotic ones. But yeah, it's been
Speaker 6: good to develop dot Camra Street with the guys like
Speaker 6: Sheet and He's you saw him go out there and
Speaker 6: go make the play, so he's he's got some some
Speaker 6: big playability.
Speaker 3: I think our receiver room's got excellent people, excellent talented players.
Speaker 3: They all work their tail off, and I think they're
Speaker 3: really really good communicators. And so you know, Ceo Sheed,
Speaker 3: you know, even the guys who've been you know, Cooks,
Speaker 3: he's been in this league for a long time, Dante's
Speaker 3: been in this league, said, you know, there's a bunch
Speaker 3: of guys. You know, a bunch of guys. I can
Speaker 3: go on and on. It's a really good group. And
Speaker 3: I think that quarterback room, that receiver room spend a
Speaker 3: lot of time together, which is ultimately what you want.
Speaker 2: Lots of good work to build off of. Already, as
Speaker 2: the Saints put the first set of OTAs behind them,
Speaker 2: those three practices. They'll have those four days off this
Speaker 2: weekend for the holiday weekend to rest, recovers, spend some
Speaker 2: time with some family, give tribute to the Memorial Holiday,
Speaker 2: and we'll be back next week with another open date
Speaker 2: on Thursday, where we'll have another Saints podcast to break
Speaker 2: down everything that happened, what's being said, and what's being
Speaker 2: worked on. Thanks so much for joining me on this
Speaker 2: edition of the New Orleans Saints Podcast.
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