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New Orleans Saints Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers Joe Vitt
Media Availability
Sunday, July 29, 2012

Watch Vitt's Press Conference

Johnny Patrick, is he okay?

“Yeah, he’s got cramps.”

What about Patrick Robinson?

“Tweaked his shoulder, they took him in for an evaluation.”

Earlier in practice Sedrick Ellis was with the two’s.

“That’s by design. We’re looking at everybody. Nobody has a scholarship here. We’re looking at a lot of people. There is going to be rotation in there. We want to get some equal reps in there in the evaluation process.”

Do they have to win their job?

“Ninety percent of the guys on this team have to win their job. And that is what we have done from day one since we’ve been here in ’06. There are no scholarships.”

On the d-line what do you think about this experiment with Martez Wilson?

“We kind of touched on that yesterday. I think pretty good because we’re going to drop our ends into coverage and he’s got some coverage ability from last year being with us in the linebacker room and being a linebacker in college. He understands coverage concepts, so far so good. He has embraced the opportunity and he’ll continue to get some more reps.”

What do you think about Junior Galette?

“I don’t know if I’ve been around a player that has come as far as Junior Galette in the last three years, physically, mentally and emotionally. He’s really become a stable and dependable player. We’re excited about where he is right now. I hope he continues to grow. I know where his intent is.”

What do you expect out of Devery Henderson?

“We expect out of him what he has given us every year. He is a great deep ball threat that can cross face safeties and can catch the ball outside the framework of his body. When the ball is up he wins most one on ones. He is probably the most legitimate deep ball threat we’ve had since we’ve been here. I thought Devery caught the long ball today well.  I think he has had a great offseason so far.”  

How do you approach that first preseason game?

“We are going to treat this first preseason game just like we would treat our Black and Gold scrimmage that we have every year. It will be a set number of plays that our veterans play and our starters play. We’ve got to take a good hard look at some of our younger players but we are going to treat it like we would the Black and Gold scrimmage.”

Who do you think the dime candidates are going to be?

“I think Johnny Patrick has done a great job. Corey White has done a great job. I think those are two real good candidates right there. We’ve worked those two guys in the spring. But we’ve got to go against some other competition. We’ll see how it shakes out.”

Is Cameron Jordan up there?

“He’s really done a great job so why not. He’s got some length, some twitch and some redirect. He’s got some characteristics that you can’t teach. He’s got some moxy about him.  We’ll take a look.”

Does it help him know Spagnuolo’s system?

“Absolutely. These guys have been in this system. They can talk it. They understand it. They know the proper angles and formation recognition, the cause and the checks, so it helps”

Is there any time table with Akiem Hicks and David Thomas?

“We’re going to start working Hicks a little bit more tomorrow. David Thomas continues to get better. We’ve got five preseason games. I’m not going to rush David along. He’s proven to be a very valuable member of our offense. Make sure is 100%. Hoping to get Hicks’ helmet on tomorrow and do some conditioning. You can’t go non-padded for three days and then try to get him in.”

Can you talk about the Marques Clark story?

“It’s a guy that Drew Brees really likes. It’s a guy that he threw to in the summer time. It’s a guy that has been out of college for a while. But when you take a look at our system and the quality of the receivers that we have and what we like from them. We like big guys with a lot of length that can put their foot in the ground and cross face corners. He’s doing okay.”

Cameron Jordan has says he has sweet feet, can you talk about the versatility?

“That is his description that he has sweet feet.  That’s not my description.  He’s got a long way to go with coverage. We’ll see how versatile he is when the game starts. He doesn’t have sweet feet.”

Do you think Cameron Jordan can play inside?

“I think he can. I think what he has really done a good job of is becoming a pretty good edge rusher on tackles. I think the second year in the National Football League has given him some maturity. So we will see.”

Last year Cameron Jordan came in a couple of days late. He is on time now. Have you seen much improvement?

“He is ten pounds lighter than he was. He has had a great offseason. He has been through the gauntlet one time. He’s got some real good athleticism. He’s gotten better.”