Alfred Stewart
May 25, 2007Yvonne Knudsen- Smith
June 1, 2007
As the New Orleans Saints began their first full-roster work of the offseason last week, coach Sean Payton was pleased to see more than 80 players on the field, including his starting quarterback.
This time a year ago, Drew Brees was still rehabilitating from complicated throwing shoulder surgery and spent much of the Saints’ organized team activities and minicamp doing little more than watching and studying.
“It’s encouraging because a year ago we were still going through the process of him not being able to throw,” Payton said. “Everything we did with Drew a year ago was a walkthrough. It wasn’t until training camp that we were getting live throws from him. It’s a credit to his timing and the way he prepared in the offseason. He stayed in shape. He came into this OTA and it wasn’t the first time he’s thrown. That’s a good thing especially for a quarterback.”
The first OTA opened last Tuesday. The Saints will have had six by the time minicamp opens June 1, and they will go through six more OTAs before training camp opens in late July.
There are 90 players on the Saints’ roster now, a number that will drop to 54 by the end of training camp, plus a handful of young players who will be permitted to remain on the Saints’ practice squad.
Of the nine players who sat out of the opening practice, only two were veteran players with minor injuries. Steve Gleason is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and Alfred Fincher has a thigh injury.
Linebacker Brian Simmons, acquired as a free agent from Cincinnati, was limited to individual drills as he continued to rehabilitate from offseason arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
Three players are in NFL Europe: defensive tackle McKinley Boykin, defensive end Willie Evans and safety Chris Reis. Four rookies n Brett Bergstrom, Jermon Bushrod, Antonio Pittman, and Desmond Sims n were excused because of college obligations.
“A year ago at this time, we had a number of guys who weren’t able to participate because of injury,” Payton said. “I’m pleased with where we’re at from a rehab standpoint. Every season you go through a bunch of postseason procedures and our guys have done a good job of coming back from that.”
That includes two players who went out early in 2006 with season-ending knee injuries: safety Roman Harper and defensive end Rob Ninkovich.
They both participated fully without braces.
“It’s all mental. I never rehabbed with one on so I’m just used to not wearing one,” Harper said.
Harper, who started the first five games of 2006 before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, was working out with the first team.
“It’s just a confidence thing that they trusted me a little bit, even though I got hurt and went down early” last season, Harper said. “I guess they believe in what I did early that really showed them a little bit that I could still play.”
RECEIVERS:@ As pleased as Brees is just to be able to throw the ball this offseason, he’s even happier with the receivers he’s trying to hit in practice.
First-round draft choice Robert Meachem, who sprained his left ankle during rookie camp two weeks ago, was able to run routes this week.
“I like him,” Brees said. “He’s not 100 percent healthy, so I haven’t seen his top end, but he’s coming along.”
Returning starters Marques Colston and Devery Henderson were back on the field, as were reserves Terrance Copper, Michael Lewis, Jamal Jones and Lance Moore. Then there was newly acquired free agents David Patten and Dante Ridgeway, along with rookie Rhema McKnight.
“We have a great group of receivers. You’re already starting to see how it’s all going to piece together,” Brees said. “We’ve got so many good guys so I’m excited about our options. Obviously we know what we were able to accomplish last year, but I feel like we can still get so much better.”
SHAPING UP:@ Payton said he could tell the rookies were beginning to adjust better to the pace of NFL practices from what he had seen during rookie camp.
That included Meachem, even though he was trying to improve his conditioning while getting over a sprained ankle at the same time.
Meachem said he rode a stationary bike every day and performed low-impact workouts in a pool, dropping more than 11 pounds. He said he weighed in this week at 218 pounds and hopes to get closer to 208 by training camp.
“It was all those fun meals and I had to burn it off,” Meachem said, echoing what Payton had said about how potential first-round draft choices get taken out to dinner by numerous teams interested in picking them before the draft.
“I’ve got a long way to go, but you’ve got to start somewhere,” he said.
