Da Boot Sports
6/12/2025
Article courtesy of Crescent City Sports
By: Les East


   METAIRIE – Kellen Moore is laying the foundation for his program as the new head coach of the New Orleans Saints.If any of the spectators that comprised sellout crowds that witnessed mini-camp practices Tuesday and Wednesday were hoping to get a glimpse of what this team will look like in the fall they likely were disappointed.

   Football practice, such as it is in the spring with no pads being worn and no significant contact being allowed, is just part of a regimen that includes weight training and team-building excursions away from the football facility.

   In fact Moore canceled the final scheduled off-season practice Thursday, and the team headed to Five O Fore Golf + Entertainment to hone their golf swings and camaraderie.

   Moore said he had been considering canceling the final practice for a while as long as the team maintained the quality of work and effort with which it began the program during three weeks of OTAs.

   “I thought these guys knocked it out of the park,” Moore said.

   So at the end of Thursday’s team meeting the offense and defense had a basketball 3-point shooting competition in which the offense prevailed, earning the offense’s captain, tight end Juwan Johnson, the opportunity to pick one player to shoot a 3-pointer with the cancellation of practice ostensibly hanging in the balance.


   Johnson astutely chose quarterback Hunter Dekkers, who was his high school’s all-time leading scorer in basketball, and Dekkers swished his first attempt and that was that, though Moore admitted that an adequate number of mulligans would have been available if needed.

   And the team was off on its golf excursion just as it had ventured off to a paintball competition and a community service project during OTAs.

   “I think it’s really important to build on a solid foundation, and that foundation is really built around people first and foremost,” Moore said. “We certainly spent a lot of this time trying to find different avenues and opportunities for all of us to connect.

   “I think it’s a connected team and a team that works really, really hard. We’re creating habits during the off-season. I think our habits are where we want them.”

   The building of habits began in the weight room where Moore said the players “worked their tails off.”

   Of course football did occupy the majority of the Saints time, though the work was very basic.

   “Seven on seven is really the main competitive component of this thing,” Moore said. “For a lot of our team components we were mostly in teaching sessions where we’re making sure we’re in the same responsibilities, we’re all aligned, we understand our job. The physical component will be applied in training camp.

   “It was really about building a foundation from a schematic standpoint and really focusing on the fundamentals, the details. We feel like we’re there. We’re not going back to step one and rebuilding this thing from the beginning of OTAs. The main objective moving forward is just to continue growing and building through training camp.”

   Training camp will being at the Metairie facility in six weeks and Moore announced Thursday that the team will return to the University of Cal Irvine in the Los Angeles area from August 6-15 in conjunction with an August 10 preseason game against the Chargers in Inglewood though the teams won’t have joint practices.

   New Orleans held its entire training camp under former head coach Dennis Allen at Cal-Irvine last summer while the Metairie facility was being renovated, and the milder weather as well as a change in environment and opportunity for continued team-building made a return attractive to the new coach.

   The Saints will return to New Orleans for the duration of training camp and their final two preseason games – August 17 against Jacksonville and August 23 against Denver in the Caesars Superdome.

Da Boot Sports
6/11/2025
Article courtesy of Crescent City Sports
By: Tory Trahan


   METAIRIE, LA – The New Orleans Saints were on full display at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Tuesday for Day One of mandatory minicamp.Fans who were quick enough to grab tickets before they sold out filled the stands—despite the brutal Louisiana summer heat—to get their first look at the 2025 squad under new head coach Kellen Moore.

   Much of the crowd’s attention centered on the quarterback battle between Spencer Rattler and second-round rookie Tyler Shough, following Derek Carr’s retirement last month.

   Shough completed 12 of 16 passes, while Rattler went 11-for-15 with one interception.

   Rattler, entering his second season in the NFL, was drafted by the Saints in the fifth round of last year’s draft.

   “Iron sharpens iron,” Rattler said. “I respect all of these guys in the room. We all work well together, and that makes for good competition.”

   Shough, meanwhile, said he’s adjusting to the professional level’s terminology, noting it’s more extensive than what he encountered at Louisville.

   “It’s always a process of learning new verbiage,” Shough said. “But for me, it’s been really easy so far.”

   He also expressed confidence in the quarterback competition.

   “I’ve had experience battling for QB1 at each school I was at,” Shough said. “The best way to do it is to do your job, and I think that’ll be recognized quickly. I just want to get on the field with everyone and mesh with the offense. I’m having a lot of fun doing that.”

   Moore said he’s pleased with the young quarterback group, which includes 25-year-old Shough, 24-year-old Rattler, 26-year-old Jake Haener, and 23-year-old Hunter Dekkers.

   “They’re hungry, they’re ready,” Moore said. “They have high capacity, they’re throwing it well out here, so I feel like they’re doing everything we can ask of them right now.”

   Over the team’s first nine days together, Moore focused on installing offensive schemes and getting a feel for the team’s overall understanding of the concepts.

   “Today was really about situations and how we apply those schemes,” he said.

   Also in attendance at Tuesday’s practice was free agent running back Cam Akers, a member of the Los Angeles Rams’ 2022 Super Bowl-winning team. The Saints hosted Akers for a visit during the workout.

   Moore expressed excitement over Akers’ presence in Metairie.

   “As you go through this [offseason], you’re trying to evaluate as many players as you can,” Moore said. “Cam is an experienced player, and I felt like it was a great opportunity.”

   Moore also praised the fans who showed up to watch practice, calling their presence “awesome.”

​   “It’s impressive to see, on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of June, that we can reach capacity here,” Moore said. “It shows how special this place is.”

   Also spotted on the sidelines was LSU senior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, the son of Saints offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier.

   Moore said he has a close relationship with Garrett, having worked with Doug since 2018.

   “He was playing high school football in Texas back then,” Moore said. “We’re all rooting for him, and we’re really excited for his season coming up.”

   Fans lucky enough to get tickets will have one more opportunity to watch practice tomorrow before the team concludes minicamp and breaks until training camp.

​   Gates will open at 11 a.m., with practice set to begin around 11:50 a.m.

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