Dozens of players went through drills wearing New Orleans Saints practice uniforms without names on the back for the closing day of rookie camp — and none of those players wore Nos. 0 or 52, which belong to the two highest draft picks from this year’s class.
Neither first-round receiver Jordyn Tyson nor second-round defensive tackle Christen Miller participated in the second and final day of the rookie orientation, at least for the on-field portion. That seems concerning on the surface, especially considering Tyson’s substantial injury history, but coach Kellen Moore waved it off following Saturday’s session.
This, the coach said, is part of the team’s process of figuring out who they have in their players and what they need in order to contribute for the regular season. For Tyson in particular, this was a planned absence and not related to any new aggravation of an injury.
“Obviously Jordyn had a number of things that he (dealt with) last year during the season, so we got him into our system and let’s just start building this thing the right way,” Moore said. “Similar to a number of guys we had last year.”
Moore said this is an approach the team will likely follow throughout the summer as the team ramps up toward training camp.
The reality is, their absences during the practice portion is not much of a setback at this point. Both Tyson and Miller were in New Orleans this weekend getting onboarded with the club, a process that includes their first exposure to the playbook, the team meeting structure and the strength and conditioning department.
That last point may be especially relevant for a player like Tyson, who had spent the last seven or eight months managing a hamstring injury that cost him X games of his final season at Arizona State and prevented him from working out until late in the draft process.
The Saints don’t intend to just be smart with their veterans and their practice workload. The “maintenance program” that Moore speaks of will apply to rookies and other young players as needed in order to keep them as fresh as possible for game days this fall.
This isn’t a new practice. Offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga was on a maintenance program throughout his second season as he dealt with nagging injuries. It wasn’t perfect, but Fuaga managed to play in 13 contests.
Impressive tryout
Brock Rechsteiner drew a little more attention than undrafted rookie tryout players usually get at these sorts of things — his father, Scott Steiner, is in the professional wrestling Hall of Fame.
But, at least from the media viewing vantage point, Rechsteiner looks like more than just an interesting back story.
The receiver out of Jacksonville State is a big, well-built athlete, checking in at 6-2 and 225 pounds. He showcased an aggressive mentality when the ball was headed his way, snatching it out of the air rather than letting it come to him. It’s tough to say whether his athleticism will play against professional athletes based on the limited competitive reps this week, but he does have some intriguing traits.
The Saints may not choose to sign him. They spent a lot of draft capital on the receiver position and currently have a pretty crowded room. But, if not here, he should get a longer look somewhere.
More you can do
Barion Brown had one exceptional trait coming out of college that will help him land a spot on an NFL roster: He is an elite return man.
Brown, who started at Kentucky before finishing his college career at LSU, set a Southeastern Conference record with six career kick returns for touchdowns. He had at least one in every season, and he recorded three of them as a sophomore at Kentucky.
With teams having a better understanding of the dynamic kickoff rule, Brown can be a weapon for the Saints even if he never sees the field for an offensive snap.
But the Saints don’t strictly see him as a return man, and Brown showed some ability as a pass catcher this week.
Moore would probably have to be creative when it comes to finding ways to get Brown the football. At 5-11 and 177 pounds, Brown is built more like a track athlete than a football player, and his size is a serious limitation.
But it’s also not like he hasn’t shown he can do it in the SEC. Brown caught at least 40 passes in three of his four college seasons, finishing his career with 175 receptions. And he only missed one game in his college career despite his slender frame.