NFL+ Free 7-Day Trial! (320X50)

Saints coach Allen 'more comfortable' in head role this time – Lincoln Journal Star

Get local news delivered to your inbox!
FILE – New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen claps for his players during an NFL football practice in Metairie, La., Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Allen enters training camp with a roster that has been fortified at several key spots since former long-time coach Sean Payton retired after last season.
METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Saints coach Dennis Allen cites his own evolution as one of the biggest differences between the last training camp he oversaw in 2014 with the Raiders and his first in charge with New Orleans this summer.
“I’m much further along. I’m much more comfortable sitting in this seat,” Allen said Tuesday evening, sitting at the same podium that now-retired Sean Payton did on the eve of training camp last year. “I’ve seen a lot more happen.”
While general manager Mickey Loomis emphasized the relative continuity maintained by elevating Allen from defensive coordinator to head coach, he also acknowledged that in pro sports, a change in leadership is always significant, with effects that ripple across the roster.
For the past 16 years, Loomis said, “the whole team has taken on personality of Sean Payton and that’s been a good thing.”
“Teams do take on the personality of your head coach. And so, we’ll see how that evolves. And Dennis’ personality is different,” Loomis continued. “He’s a grinder. He’s set-jaw, a little bit of an old-school soul, tough minded, maybe a little more conservative. … I’m anxious to see how that goes.”
The hope in New Orleans is that the roster Allen has this season will be deeper, stronger and, perhaps most importantly, healthier than the one Payton had to manage last season. There was upheaval at positions ranging from placekicker to quarterback in 2021, and the club went 9-8 — one victory short of making the playoffs.
Loomis said the team is confident in its ability to win now and went on to assert that “this isn’t a rebuild.”
Quarterback Jameis Winston is ready to practice — albeit cautiously, at first — after missing more than half of last season with torn knee ligaments.
Top receiver Michael Thomas, who missed all of last season with an ankle injury, will start training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list. However, Loomis noted, “I don’t expect him to be on (the PUP list) very long. Just not quite full-go yet.” When asked if Thomas had any setbacks, Loomis responded, “Not at all.”
Wil Lutz, who kicked every field goal for the Saints from 2016 through 2020, is back after missing all of last season.
The defense, for which Allen will continue to call plays, has numerous key veterans back, including defensive end Cameron Jordan, linebacker Demario Davis, cornerback Marshon Lattimore, nickelback CJ Gardner-Johnson and defensive tackle David Onyemata. And the Saints hope they have upgraded their secondary with the additions of free-agent safeties Marcus Maye and Tyrann Mathieu.
The offense added free agent Jarvis Landry and first-round draft choice Chris Olave at receiver while using a second first-round pick on left tackle Trevor Penning.
The Saints expect dynamic running back Alvin Kamara to continue to play a major role for most of the season, although they remain uncertain whether he’ll be suspended in connection with his arrest on felony battery charges in Las Vegas last February. The NFL routinely waits for the legal process to play out before disciplining players, and Kamara’s case remains in the preliminary stages with an unclear timeline.
“I don’t control that situation,” Allen said. “So, we’ll see how things play out and we’ll adjust accordingly.”
The Saints did add depth at running back the day before Wednesday’s opening practice of camp, signing Malcolm Brown, a veteran free agent out of Texas who has played six seasons with the Rams (in both St. Louis and Los Angeles) and spent last season with Miami.
Allen also has retained a number of longtime staff, including Pete Carmichael Jr., who was Payton’s offensive coordinator since the 2009 championship season and now will call plays full-time after sometimes doing it during the Payton era.
“I don’t think you’re going to look out at practice and go, ‘Oh my God, everything is different,’” Allen said, noting he has kept much of what he felt worked well during the Payton years. “There’s going to be a lot of similarities.”
Loomis noted that Allen had been on the Saints’ staff for 12 of the past 16 years. His absence spanned from 2011, when he was hired as Denver’s defensive coordinator, through 2014, his last of three seasons in his first head coaching job with the Raiders. Allen went 8-28 with the Raiders before his firing after an 0-4 start to his third campaign.
“A lot of what he does is taken from Sean Payton,” Loomis said of Allen. “So, there’s a lot of similarities — more similarities than differences at this point.”
NOTES: The Saints said Mathieu will miss the opening of camp while attending to a personal matter and they did not specify how many practices he would miss. … Loomis said defensive end Marcus Davenport would join Thomas on the PUP list to start camp. … The Saints also added veteran center Nick Martin and undrafted rookie defensive end Scott Patchan while waiving punter Daniel Whelan, offensive lineman Derek Schweiger and cornerback Jordan Miller.
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Charles Johnson, the Steelers’ first-round pick in 1994, who spent five seasons with the team, has died at the age of 50.

Where both Donald Trump and Vince McMahon failed, The Rock thinks he can win.

The Cleveland Browns reached an agreement Thursday with free agent quarterback Josh Rosen on a one-year contract.

Jimmy Garoppolo can officially return to the practice field — and start searching for his next home.

Tyreek Hill didn’t walk into Kansas City Chiefs camp Monday. Neither did Tyrann Mathieu. And how the Chiefs replace two of the cornerstones of their four straight trips to the AFC title game will largely affect whether their division run of dominance continues this season. In Hill’s case, the Chiefs signed JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling while drafting Skyy Moore as replacements. And for Mathieu, they signed Justin Reid and drafted Bryan Cook and Nazeeh Johnson. Whether any of it works will be decided beginning Wednesday with the first full-squad workout of training camp.

Patrick Mahomes walked onto the practice field at Missouri Western on Sunday flanked by a flotilla of rookies and longshots, many of whom have long dreamed of making in a year what the Chiefs quarterback will make by the end of the day. Yet the reality of the QB market in the NFL is that Mahomes is no longer its highest-paid player, and truth be told, that’s just fine with him. He is perfectly willing to give up that title if it means a better team surrounds him.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — The drama is over and the decision is in: Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals have made a long-term commitment to each other with a new contract that would keep the quarterback in the desert through the 2028 season.

Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown said the team already has an eye on paying quarterback Joe Burrow. The Bengals star quarterback, who led the team to their first Super Bowl berth in 33 years, will be eligible to negotiate a new contract after this season. Burrow likely will command a long-term deal paying him somewhere in the $40 million to $50 million range per season, based on the deals of other top NFL quarterbacks. Brown said finances are already being structured to keep Burrow in Cincinnati for the long term. Cincinnati opens training camp Tuesday.

The NFL is making its move into offering its own media streaming platform.

Green Bay police say their internal affairs department is conducting a review after a video on social media showed an officer grabbing Packers running back A.J. Dillon during a Saturday night soccer match at Lambeau Field. Video posted on social media showed Dillon in the end zone greeting fans in the stands during the exhibition match between FC Bayern Munich and Manchester City FC. Dillon appeared to be on the verge of doing a Lambeau leap into the crowd when the video showed an officer grabbing him by the back of his collar and giving him a shove.
FILE – New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen claps for his players during an NFL football practice in Metairie, La., Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Allen enters training camp with a roster that has been fortified at several key spots since former long-time coach Sean Payton retired after last season.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.

source

Christopher Jones
Christopher Jones
Articles: 10153

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *