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Saints Training Camp 2025: Key Takeaways from Monday, July 28

Pads come on, intensity rises as Saints split reps across fields

Jul 28, 2025 at 01:48 PM

Todd Graffagnini

1. Quick hits

Linebacker Demario Davis was back on the practice field Monday after an excused absence Sunday. … Monday was the first practice in full pads for the New Orleans Saints, coming after the first four practices in helmets and shorts (shells). … Saints defensive back and special teams stalwart J.T. Gray left the practice field with a trainer during a punt team drill and did not return to practice. Head Coach Kellen Moore mentioned it was a lower leg injury and would be reevaluated, but did not seem concerned. …Use of time and reps continues to be a big component of this training camp as the north and south fields were used at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center during the final team period. Quarterback Tyler Shough ran with the first team on the south field, while Spencer Rattler worked with the second team on the north field in front of the fans. Each quarterback worked eight full reps before the horn blew and moved everyone to the south field, where Shough got seven more reps, Rattler had four more, and Jake Haener ended practice with four reps, capping practice off with a nice 20-yard completion on a comeback route to wide receiver Dante Pettis. ... Safety Julian Blackmon received his official summer indoctrination to New Orleans by showing up to media availability with his first snoball, courtesy of Droopy's. The flavor was sour apple. He mentioned they are snow cones where he's from (Layton, Utah) and the ice here is much better. Tuesday's practice will be a special teams installation/walkthrough so it will be closed to the public and media, so this column will resume Wednesday with another padded practice.

2. Good to hear the pads pop:

Always the real unofficial beginning of camp is when the pads go on for the first time. Football is a physical sports with contact, and we finally got to see some of that Monday. As usual, one of the highlights of the first padded practice is the offensive line vs\. defensive line one-on-one drills. While those drills were going on, the rest of the team was working 7-on-7 drills. As far as the one-on-one drills go, starters were going against starters, sometimes doubling up on the reps, for example defensive tackle Bryan Bresee matched up against left guard Trevor Penning. Defensive end Cameron Jordan faced off against right tackle Taliese Fuaga, right guard Cesar Ruiz squared off against defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd. Typical of these drills, both sides of the ball saw individual wins, but the most dramatic matchup came with rookie first round draft pick Kelvin Banks Jr. was up against defensive end Chris Rumph II. Rumph tried to sprint around Banks quickly was brought down to the earth by Banks' pancake style, which really fired up the offensive line staff. At 6 feet 5, 315 pounds Banks is a mountain of a man, who displays quickness and steady footwork. Hopefully we see much more of what we saw Monday against a defensive end wearing a different color uniform when the preseason and regular season games begin.

All-Access Photos: 2025 Saints Training Camp practice 7/28/25