Saints minicamp first taste of NFL for rookies
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METAIRIE — The New Orleans Saints’ six draft choices and more than 50 other professional football wannabes will get their first taste of life in the NFL when the team conducts a minicamp for rookies and first-year players this weekend.
The players arrive tonight and practice five times between Friday and Sunday at the team’s headquarters. The practices are closed to the public and the media.
The draft choices will be joined by 16 undrafted free agents and 36 other players who will be participating on a tryout basis.
Saints coach Sean Payton said the goal is to “indoctrinate these players into our system.” “It’s a chance for them to see how we practice, learn our terminology and get them ready to compete for a position on this team,” Payton said. “The minicamp is here to teach them about our system, the structure and an introduction of the building and the people that are going to be teaching them and instructing them.”
Payton said the practices will be conducted at a slower pace than training camp to allow the neophytes an opportunity to learn and be prepared when they are joined by veterans and a faster tempo is utilized in the full mini-camp at the end of the month and in training camp.
All the players, including the Saints No. 1 draft choice, Southern Cal defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, will speak with the media Saturday, their first in-person interviews locally since being acquired. Payton will also speak with the media Saturday.
One of the players with a short trip to attend the mini-camp is second-round pick Tracy Porter, a cornerback from Indiana, who’s from Port Allen.
Payton said besides making first impressions, players are expected to learn the fundamentals necessary to keep up during subsequent workouts.
Payton has often said that where a player was drafted, or whether they were drafted at all, has no bearing on their ability to make the team. Everyone is judged on how they perform after arriving.
He cited examples such as running back Pierre Thomas, punter Steve Weatherford, and quarterback Tyler Palko — all veteran Saints who were undrafted free agents. He also mentioned Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Tony Romo, who was an undrafted free agent when Payton was a Cowboys assistant.
The players arrive tonight and practice five times between Friday and Sunday at the team’s headquarters. The practices are closed to the public and the media.
The draft choices will be joined by 16 undrafted free agents and 36 other players who will be participating on a tryout basis.
Saints coach Sean Payton said the goal is to “indoctrinate these players into our system.” “It’s a chance for them to see how we practice, learn our terminology and get them ready to compete for a position on this team,” Payton said. “The minicamp is here to teach them about our system, the structure and an introduction of the building and the people that are going to be teaching them and instructing them.”
Payton said the practices will be conducted at a slower pace than training camp to allow the neophytes an opportunity to learn and be prepared when they are joined by veterans and a faster tempo is utilized in the full mini-camp at the end of the month and in training camp.
All the players, including the Saints No. 1 draft choice, Southern Cal defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, will speak with the media Saturday, their first in-person interviews locally since being acquired. Payton will also speak with the media Saturday.
One of the players with a short trip to attend the mini-camp is second-round pick Tracy Porter, a cornerback from Indiana, who’s from Port Allen.
Payton said besides making first impressions, players are expected to learn the fundamentals necessary to keep up during subsequent workouts.
Payton has often said that where a player was drafted, or whether they were drafted at all, has no bearing on their ability to make the team. Everyone is judged on how they perform after arriving.
He cited examples such as running back Pierre Thomas, punter Steve Weatherford, and quarterback Tyler Palko — all veteran Saints who were undrafted free agents. He also mentioned Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Tony Romo, who was an undrafted free agent when Payton was a Cowboys assistant.
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