The Saints will get to see defensive end Chase Young on the field Wednesday.
Coach Dennis Allen said Tuesday that Young will participate “in some form of practice” when training camp opens. Young spent the offseason recovering from neck surgery.
Young, 25, signed a one-year, $13 million deal with the Saints on March 18, a day before it was revealed he needed the surgery.
The Saints insist they knew about the surgery before signing Young, and they expect him to be ready for the start of the regular season. But they tied more than half his salary to per-game active roster bonuses.
The Commanders drafted Young in 2020 and traded him to the 49ers last season in exchange for a 2024 third-round pick. He has never had more than 7.5 sacks and has 16.5 in his four-year career.
Young’s only Pro Bowl came during his rookie season when he was defensive rookie of the year.
He had only a lukewarm free agent market this offseason, which seems to have motivated him.
“It’s been very positive,” General Manager Mickey Loomis said, via Luke Johnson of nola.com. “I’ve been impressed with how hard he’s working to get his rehab done, his attitude about being on this team and having a chip on his shoulder. I feel like this is a player that feels like he has something to prove, and oftentimes when you’re that high of a draft pick, that’s hard to recapture.”
The Saints will be deliberate in Young’s return, with Loomis saying the team is “not going to rush” him.
Allen expects defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon (Achilles), linebacker Nephi Sewell (ACL) and tight end Juwan Johnson (foot), all of whom are on the active/PUP list to participate in the team’s first training camp practice. Receiver Chris Olave (back), whom the team placed on the non-football injury list last week, also will get some work.
Saints Clips
The Saints have hired former Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler as a personnel advisor, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football reports.
In March, it was reported that Ziegler was working with the Saints in an advisory role and was expected to remain with the team through the draft. But Ziegler now will stay with the Saints going forward.
The Raiders hired him as G.M. in January 2022 after he served in the Patriots’ personnel department for nine years. He went to Las Vegas to work with head coach Josh McDaniels, who was offensive coordinator in New England.
McDaniels and Ziegler were fired Oct. 31, 2023 after going 9-16.
Ziegler worked with the Broncos from 2010-12.
He joins General Manager Mickey Loomis and assistant General Managers Jeff Ireland and Khai Harley in the front office in scouting personnel.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara reported to the team’s training camp in Irvine, California on Tuesday, but he is still set to play out the 2024 season under the terms of his current contract.
Kamara made an early exit from the team’s mandatory minicamp in June because of dissatisfaction with that contract, which runs through 2025 but offers no guaranteed money and a high enough cap number that the Saints would see financial benefits from parting ways with him. General Manager Mickey Loomis declined to discuss where any negotiations with Kamara stand when he spoke to reporters from camp and said it was up to Kamara if he wants to share anything in that area.
“I appreciate that he’s here. Those are questions that you have to ask him about how he’s feeling,” Loomis said at a press conference.
Head coach Dennis Allen said in his press conference that Kamara passed his physical and that he expects the running back to be on the practice field on Wednesday.
Running back Alvin Kamara left the Saints’ mandatory minicamp early last month because of issues with his contract that have not been resolved, so his status for the team’s training camp in Irvine, California has been up in the air for the last month.
Saints veterans reported to camp on Tuesday and, per multiple reports, Kamara is among them. The next question will be whether Kamara will practice with the team on Wednesday or if he is holding in by reporting to avoid the fines he’d incur by holding out.
Kamara is due a salary of $10.2 million this season and is under contract for 2025, but has a cap hit of over $29 million and is not due any guaranteed money.
The two sides have had talks about a new deal that would offer Kamara more security and there will likely be more information about where things stand on that front in the coming days.
The Raiders made a little news over the weekend with the revelation that their decision to conduct training camp in Southern California comes with a rule that prevents them from promoting the practices, credentialing media from local publications to cover it, and/or allowing fans to attend. That prompted some to wonder how the Cowboys can do those very things with their training-camp sessions in Oxnard, which falls within the prohibited 75-mile proximity to SoFi Stadium.
The answer is simple. The Cowboys were already practicing there before the Rams and Chargers moved to L.A.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Cowboys are exempt from the rule because of their longstanding annual visits to Oxnard for training camp.
The Saints fall into the same category as the Raiders. The Saints understood the limitation, and accepted it, when they agreed to hold camp in L.A. (The Saints plans to hold an open practice for fans at Tulane Stadium and at the Superdome, after they return from L.A.)
The Raiders did, too. But there’s no rule against complaining about the rule. Which the Raiders have sort of done.
And why not? It’s a stupid and petty rule, especially with so many Raiders fans in the area. How many of those Raiders fans will go to Rams camp or Chargers camp instead?
The Saints signed former UFL receiver Kevin Austin Jr. to a one-year deal, the team announced Monday.
Austin spent the spring with the Birmingham Stallions, finishing with 15 receptions for 253 yards and two touchdowns. In a game against Memphis, he made four catches for 108 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown.
He originally entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2022 out of Notre Dame, signing with the Jaguars.
Austin spent his rookie season on the Jaguars’ practice squad and went to training camp with the team in 2023.
During his college career, Austin appeared in 26 games with 13 starts and totaled 54 receptions for 996 yards and seven touchdowns.
Earlier this month, we took a look at some of the veterans who might decide to stay away from training camp in order to get the contracts they want. Since then, none of them have gotten new deals.
Now that the clock is ticking loudly toward camp for the various teams with players who want more, and who in every case deserve it, it’s time to pay closer attention to whether deals get done and, if not, what will happen.
Here’s the rundown from July 3.
Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Matt Judon, Haason Reddick, Ja’Marr Chase, Amari Cooper, Courtland Sutton, CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, Jordan Love, Tristan Wirfs, Alvin Kamara, Brandon Aiyuk, Matthew Stafford.
There could be others that we’re not thinking of. As to those we listed, we’ll find out if they get their contracts and, if not, whether they’ll show up and practice, show up and not practice (hold in), or hold out.
Some will say that a holdout from a player under contract amounts to a violation of that contract. This overlooks the fact that there’s a second contract — the Collective Bargaining Agreement — that gives them the right to withhold services in an effort to get more.
Yes, it comes with a cost in the form of daily fines. For players not on their rookie deals, the daily fines can’t be waived. For players on their fifth-year options (like Tagvailoa, Aiyuk, and Lamb) missing a preseason game entails a fine in the amount of a regular-season game check.
Quarterbacks will get the most attention. Rarely if ever does a veteran quarterback refuse to show up and practice for camp. But that continues to be the most effective way to get the team to do the thing it has refused to do, since quarterback continues to be the most important position for any NFL team.
Tagovailoa, Stafford, and Love. Those are the ones to watch.
There’s no reason to think the Packers won’t get something done with Love. They believe in him. And they could give him a contract with a high annual average along with an escape hatch that gives the team a way out after two or three years, if it’s not working. (Two years ago, for example, the Raiders gave Derek Carr an extension — and they cut him after only one season.)
Stafford has been clamoring for guarantees beyond 2024 since the Rams didn’t draft his potential replacement in round one. Since then, his annual average of $40 million has been eclipsed by Jared Goff’s $53 million deal. What will he do if the Rams don’t finally take care of him?
Then there’s Tua. The Dolphins surely will make him an offer that gives him a lot more money and security than the $23.1 million he’s due to make in 2024. It will make sense to take the bird in the hand. But if it falls far short of what he wants, it also will make sense to stay away until they give him what he wants, or something close to it.
As with the Packers and Love, the Dolphins can give Tua a deal with big numbers — but that also lets the Dolphins cut the cord if he regresses and/or has another rash of injuries.
The Saints are keeping one of their key contributors around for at least another season.
Per Adam Schefter of ESPN, New Orleans has agreed to terms with exclusive rights free agent receiver/return specialist Rashid Shaheed on a one-year contract extension.
The deal is worth a reported $5.2 million.
Shaheed, was an All-Pro and Pro Bowler as a returner last season. He averaged 13.6 yards per punt return, scoring one touchdown. He also averaged 21.3 yards per kick return.
He also caught 46 passes for 719 yards with five touchdowns and rushed seven times for 37 yards.
After entering the league as an undrafted free agent out of Weber St. in 2022, Shaheed has recorded 74 receptions for 1,207 yards with seven touchdowns in 27 games with 14 starts.
The Saints placed right tackle Ryan Ramczyk on the reserve/physically unable to perform list Thursday. What that means was not clarified until later: Ramczyk will miss the entire 2024 season.
A vested veteran placed on reserve/PUP before the final roster reduction can’t return.
It is not a surprise given Saints coach Dennis Allen expressed concerns about Ramczyk’s knee injury during the offseason. The issue sidelined Ramczyk for five games last season.
It also could mean the end of Ramczyk’s career.
The Saints restructured Ramczyk’s contract in May, freeing up cap space for this season. Ramczyk is guaranteed $6.5 million this season, lowering his cap hit from $27 million to $12.29 million for 2024.
But Ramczyk has cap hits of $29 million and $26 million the next two seasons, so New Orleans will have to figure out how to navigate his contract if he is indeed done.
Ramczyk, 30, started 101 games in seven seasons and earned first-team All-Pro honors once and second-team All-Pro honors twice.
Continuing to deal with a lingering knee injury, Saints offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk will miss at least the start of the regular season — and likely more.
New Orleans announced on Thursday that the club has placed Ramczyk on the reserve/physically unable to perform list. That means Ramczyk will be out for, at a minimum, the first four games of 2024.
However, as multiple reporters on the Saints beat noted, Ramczyk appears unlikely to play at all in 2024. Back in March, head coach Dennis Allen said that Ramczyk’s availability for the regular season “remains to be seen” after the offensive tackle had undergone offseason surgery to address a knee issue that sidelined him for five games.
The Saints addressed offensive tackle in the draft by selecting Taliese Fuaga at No. 14 overall.
Ramczyk has started 101 games since the Saints selected him at No. 32 overall in the 2017 draft.
Additionally, New Orleans placed tight end Juwan Johnson, defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon, linebacker Nephi Sewell, and defensive end Chase Young on the active/physically unable to perform list. They can all return to practice at any time before the start of the regular season.
Receiver Chris Olave was also placed on the non-football injury list. Per Nick Underhill of neworleans.football, Olave is dealing with mild back tightness and should be fine.
Finally, receiver Bub Means was activated off the non-football injury list.
