 Graphic By: New Orleans Saints Da Boot Sports 8/8/2025 Article Courtesy of New Orleans Saints By: Todd Graffagnini Thursday's padded practice took place at Crawford Field at the University of California Irvine. … The Saints spent a month here last year during training camp due to the construction of the cafeteria at the Saints facility. … Both practice fields are Bermuda grass and orientate east to west. … The temperature at the beginning of practice was 78 degrees under sunny skies, with a steady 10-15 mph wind coming out of the south southwest. … The Saints released punter Matthew Hayball before the trip to California, and re-signed quarterback Hunter Dekkers. … They also signed tight end Mason Pline, a second-year player from Furman. Pline spent 15 weeks on the 49ers practice squad last season. … Cornerback Rico Payton missed Thursday's practice with an illness, while tight end Juwan Johnson and safety J.T. Gray participated fully. … Thursday's practice was originally scheduled for one hour, 40 minutes but ended a full 20 minutes early at 5:20 p.m. locally. … Kicker Blake Grupe remained in the zone, nailing all five of his kicks (for the first time kicking west and into the wind), with his longest coming from 49 yards. Grupe is now 30 of 31 on all training camp kicks. It was evident from the time the team walked out on the practice field at Cal-Irvine they were ready to practice and practice hard. After spending the first two weeks in Metairie, batting the heat and humidity, the team experienced really none of that Thursday. Fred McAfee, vice president of player engagement, had the California soundtrack rolling on the huge speaker that plays music throughout each practice and kept the players loose and dancing during stretching and in between individual and team reps. Coach Kellen Moore told the media post practice that the trip to California was like a "good little refocus and hit a little reset button" after the first two weeks of camp. It was one of those practices that was fun to watch as a spectator with nice plays on both sides of the ball, drawing encouragement from each sideline constantly. Also, we saw a special teams period featuring punt coverage and gunners trying to beat the coverage at full speed, also drawing more yells from each side. Friday's practice will be a scrimmage like the one in Metairie last Sunday, just not the length of 126 plays. That will determine for the most part who will play during the preseason game on Sunday against the Chargers. Plays of the Day: Lots to choose from here, which again, reflects what type of day it was in Irvine. Quarterback Spencer Rattler rolled out to the left, then tossed a throw back to the right to Juwan Johnson from the 20-yard line. Johnson was in full stride and got stopped at the 1-yard line. On the next play from the 10-yard line, Rattler executed a perfect zone read, and handed the ball off to running back Cam Akers who scampered in for an easy touchdown. Another rep showed inspired play on both sides of the ball. With Jake Haener at quarterback, and the ball at the plus 8-yard line heading into the east end zone, Haener took the snap and immediately got pressure from blitzing linebacker Jaylan Ford from the left side. Haener somehow eluded the fierce rush, and still backpedaling, threw off his back foot to the left sideline, where wide receiver Dante Pettis made the grab, but before he could get in the end zone, he was drilled out of bounds at the 1 by rookie safety Jonas Sanker. Finally, with the teams moving to the west end zone now, with Tyler Shough at quarterback and the ball at the 7-yard line, Shough handed the ball off to Clyde Edwards-Helaire who proceeded to try and find a hole off right guard. About two yards into the rush, Edwards-Helaire stopped on a dime, avoided contact, cut back to the left and waltzed into the end zone, prompting the normally reserved Alvin Kamara to come off the bench for a leaping high five with CEH. It was the second TD of the day for CEH and capped off a fun day on the West Coast. John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior) *John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. A huge Thank You to Cardio Health Solutions owned by Ron Sancho for sponsoring and believing in our publication!
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