Kevin Austin Jr.

"What is good, Who Dat Nation and Who Dat Family? I am your host, your friend, and your Saints reporter, Ross Jackson. On today's episode, we're going to take a look at the five players that need to have a strong close to the preseason in this upcoming Dallas Cowboys game. We'll take a look at a pair of the new faces that have had very limited opportunity in Daniel Carlson and Zamir White. This game incredibly important for them. We'll also take a look at Mike Heldman and another player who started off hot, but have kind of cooled down and have an opportunity here to prove something on their way to closing out the preseason. We're going to kick everything off with a wide receiver room still that has an opening and why Kevin Austin Jr is the front runner. We appreciate you very much as always for being here with us. We've got all that and a little bit of land yet for you on today's episode. So let's get into it. No matter which way you slice it, when it comes to the Jordan Tyson situation, it feels like there's a roster spot open and if there is, I think wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. right now should be considered the front runner to hold on to that role. Here's the kind of the two ways that I think that this works when it comes to a spot being open. There's kind of two versions of this. We believe that Jordan Tyson is not going to be available in September. That October is likely the month somewhere in there that he ends up making his NFL debut. Fine, Dandy, you can deal with that. The question is, do you start him on injured reserve? Because if you start him on injured reserve at roster cuts, so on Sunday, if he goes to injured reserve, he only has to miss four games. Unlike if you were to put him on injured reserve right now, he'd be done for the season. But on Sunday at roster cuts, you could put him on injured reserve, along with one other player, you could do it with two players, and you only have to miss the first four games of the season, it becomes the typical injured reserve rule, short term injured reserve. And so that's going to inherently open up another spot outside of Chris Olave, Devon Vellay, Bryce Lance, Barryon Brown, four guys that we think of as kind of like locks for the position group. If the Saints feel like Jordan Tyson could potentially, maybe, might make it back out on the football field within the first four weeks, they could make the decision to still carry him on the roster, but you would still only have, in that case, four viable options at the position. So you might then want to keep a sixth guy knowing that you're technically without one of them for at least the opening portion of the season. So I think in either case, no matter what happens with the way that they manage the Jordan Tyson roster spot, there's going to be a role open in that room. Here's the other way the Saints can go about it. They can carry Jordan Tyson for those first few games on the active roster, not put them on injury reserve, and they can elevate a wide receiver three weeks in a row. You can do it a maximum of three weeks with a player off of the practice squad. And then you got to make the decision about whether or not you want to move that player over to the active roster, a decision you don't have to make immediately, you can make later. So for New Orleans, that could be a way that they go to in terms of creating a bit of an overlap here. They could have Jordan Tyson on the roster, allow him to still miss the first four games without using one of those return slots. Teams only get eight of those when it comes to short-term injured reserve over the course of the year. They could save it and then counteract it by elevating a wide receiver for three weeks and elevating another wide receiver for the fourth week. And then you don't have to worry about roster flexibility. You're technically still using an open roster spot even though you're not putting a player on injured reserve because you can elevate these players for the practice squad. But then the complication becomes what if there's another injury and you end up needing to elevate because you can only elevate two players off your practice squad per week. What if you need a special teams contributor and you desperately need somebody from another position? Are you going to go into a game with four wide receivers because that's going to telegraph that you're going to use your tight ends a bunch and all these other pieces? That's going to be kind of the negotiation that you have to have. But there's a roster management path forward here that doesn't require Jordyn Tyson to go on injured reserve even if he's going to miss the first four or five games because you have the opportunity to elevate a wide receiver. And if you keep three wide receivers on your practice squad, that's six weeks of elevations that you could use in the first... Excuse me, if you keep two wide receivers in your practice squad, that's six weeks of elevations that you can use over the course of the opening portion of the season. So, there's a role available one way or another. And I think Kevin Austin Jr. is the guy that right now has earned that role. He has earned either to be the fifth wide receiver on the roster if the Saints end up putting Jordyn Tyson on injured reserve. If they don't end up putting Jordyn Tyson on injured reserve, then I think Kevin Austin Jr. is the guy in line to hold the sixth roster spot if they decide to keep a sixth wide receiver, or if they go the elevation path, getting him back onto the practice squad, and he's the first guy for the first three weeks that ends up getting elevated at the position. That's kind of what I think we'll see. It'll be some version of those three things. But I think Kevin Austin Jr. is the guy that has earned the opportunity to be that player. We've seen it all throughout the end of last year when he kind of stepped in and the chemistry between him and Tyler Shough began to kind of build. We saw him get his first touchdown reception of his career. He gave that ball to his mom, by the way. What a dude. Great call. Give that to your mom. Let mama have it. I love that. And then you saw him continue to develop here over the course of the offseason and be a contributor. Ask anybody about him and he gets glowing reviews. Not just because like he's a guy and a personality that they like, but from the football perspective, he lines up all over the place. He's very versatile. He's utilized all over. And he is willing to do anything and everything that's asked of him, whether it's pass protection, iron protection, chipping, pass rushers, being deployed from the slot or out at the X receiver spot. He also now knows the Z receiver spot on the opposite side. So he's learned all of these different things to add to his game when he came in from the UFL as a almost exclusive X receiver. And so he's added all of this other stuff. The team loves him. The coaches love him. The players love him. I think that he's the guy that's kind of in line there. The guy that's right behind him has been Bub Means over the course of this offseason, mostly because of his connection with Zach Wilson. Like those two have been outstanding all throughout training camp. Now, Bub's been managing some injury. He had a little bit of a hamstring tweak during the game against the Rams. He was back out on the practice field over the course of the past couple of days, has gotten involved, but maybe he's been a little bit limited. We'll see what happens for him on Saturday going into the preseason game and a chance to maybe show a little bit more like he did. The first week up against the Jacksonville Jaguars, then what we saw the second week up against the Rams, where of course he had to leave early with injury, unfortunately. Then you've got the other guys that are back there. Ronnie Bell was a guy that came in late last year, was a supplemental contributor and did well, had the great one-handed catch up against the Atlanta Falcons. Brock Rexiner is not in the conversation right now because of the six game suspension at the beginning of the year, so you can't match unavailability with unavailability. Jalen Cropper has been a guy that has had some nice flashy moments but just hasn't shown the consistency yet, but does bring some returnability as well, so he could end up being in that battle with Bub Means from a different angle when it comes to a practice squad spot. Then you look as well at a guy like Mason Tipton, that who hasn't yet been able to get back out on the football field, has been dealing with injury, things like that. Trey Palmer has been dealing with injury since the Rams game as well. We haven't seen him as of late, but he's had some really nice moments as well. Again, not necessarily the consistency that a guy like Kevin Austin Jr. has had, or the consistency that a guy like Bub Means has had, but has had some really nice moments as well. Everyone has done a good job of making sure that their names are part of the conversation. But I think that it's very, very, very much Kevin Austin Jr.'s job to lose in terms of being the early wide receiver contributor to help to offset the loss of Jordan Tyson, however it is out of those three different methods that the Saints go about trying to manage exactly that. So expect him to be a contributor early on in the season especially if he continues to have performances like he did in the red zone with a couple of touchdowns in Yulman Stadium and of course with a strong close to the preseason which is where this conversation continues with Mike Heldman who kind of went quiet after a really strong preseason opener and opportunity ahead for him to earn a role in New Orleans. Let's get to that next as we continue on with today's episode of Locked On Saints, part of Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode of Locked On Saints is brought to you by our friends over at Indeed, the best place to go if you're looking to fill a contributor role yourself. 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All you got to do is head over to indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Again, it's indeed.com/podcast. Need to hire? Well, that's a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. All right, family, one of the quick fan favorites early on in the season this year, defensive end undrafted free agent rookie Mike Heldman is a player that is in need of a strong close to the 2026 preseason to try to earn a role in New Orleans. And his last chance is tomorrow up against the Dallas Cowboys. We appreciate you very much as always for being in here with us and making us your first listen, being an Every Dayer as well. If you want to check out more of the Every Dayer Club, we're up and running. We'll have a lot of stuff, exciting stuff starting up for you next week. We're already doing one-on-one texting, so you can get in on that. We have our Discord that we're trying to build back up and everything. We've got a ton of different stuff that's coming through. But if you want to check out the details on that, just head over to lockedonsaints.supercast.com or click the link in the description. Always trying to deliver more here on the number one sports podcast network, the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. The New Orleans Saints probably top, is it fair to say top undrafted free agent rookie from this year, just based on like guys that have made a lot of waves and things like that, like Alan Heron, and then it feels like Mike Heldman has been the other guy. But in any case, and CJ Donaldson, CJ Donaldson, the running back has been the other one. But Mike Heldman felt like the player that might have been the UDFA darling pretty early, especially with his performance, throughout training camp early on, going up against the third team offense and all those other things. But then also up against the Jaguars as well. He was a player that showed a lot of, I would say growth over the course of that opportunity, because he struggled a bit during the Jaguars joint practice, and then he struggled a little early in the Jaguars preseason game, and then made adjustments to his game, and then ended up getting two sacks and a tackle for a loss, and had a really, really strong day. But since then, things have kind of quieted around him. So his last opportunity to make as big an impression as possible, right, not his last opportunity to make an impression, because he's going to be a practice squad guy at the very least, and he's going to be a guy that's going to continue to make an impression all throughout the season. But if he wants to end up on an active roster that may or may not be with or without Cam Jordan to begin the year, right? This is the time to do it, and he's going to have to come out and make some big plays, and show a little bit more of the, not just the ability to get after the passer, but like the tackle for a loss that he had, where he ended up being able to shift his way out and find his way to the running back quickly, all those other things. That's going to be just as valuable. I get brought back constantly when I think about this, and I'm like evaluating, or not evaluating, but watching the edge rushers, watching defensive linemen during practices, because you can't really, can't fully evaluate. You get it. There's no contact, right? But anyway, the thing that always comes to my mind is the conversation that Cam Jordan had recently, it's where he was like, yeah, look, you can have 20 something sacks in a season, but did you help your team win? That's what makes a good, complete defensive end, in his view, is the guy that helps his team win. Were you a liability in the run game? Because if you were a liability in the run game, you ain't helped your team win, you just got 20 sacks, it's great for you individually, but what have you done for the team lately? That's the viewpoint that Cam has, and I love that viewpoint because it challenges you to be better than the sack numbers, which I think is an important thing. I challenge myself to be better than certain elements of this job that people might designate as the end-all, be-all read of what it is to have this job. I judge myself on other things, what are some of the other things that I bring, in addition to maybe some of that stuff. And I think that that's part of how to pursue that pursuit of perfection that never ends. And I think that a guy like Mike Heldman, who's around Cam Jordan, who's around Chase Young, who's around Carl Granathan, these are all guys that through their own avenues have really ascended from where they began. And for a guy like Mike Heldman, he's looking to do the same thing. Now he came in as an undrafted free agent for a very different reason than Carl Granathan came in as an undrafted free agent. Don't get me wrong. But to be able to see, hey, this guy started here and then built his way up here, that's kind of the path that Mike Heldman is trying to take. So there's no need to rush when it comes to him. Allowing him a year to develop on the practice squad and all those other pieces, that's going to be just as good for him. But if he wants an opportunity right away, here's his chance to earn it up against the Dallas Cowboys. And look, he might be somebody that other teams are targeting on the waiver wire, things like that. I doubt it. Typically, teams are more focused on keeping their own players around than they are focused on what other teams are doing, or who other teams cut, things like that. If there becomes a trade opportunity, that typically becomes a different thing. That's when teams will turn their attention outside of their facility. Oh, we can trade a seventh round pick in two years, two years from now, in order to get this player that we can get for sure, as opposed to worrying about trying to get them off of waivers or whatever. That's the time where that happens. But usually, typically speaking, we go through this every year. Oh, there's no way that they'll make it through waivers. And then they make it through waivers, and they end up on the practice ground and it ends up being fine. So we'll see. We'll see which way it goes when it comes to Mike Heldman, if that ends up being the path for him. Another guy with a big opportunity to earn, I think a larger role is defensive tackle, Khristian Boyd, or defensive lineman, Khristian Boyd. Khristian Boyd came in as a late round draft pick just a few years ago and has kind of kept his head down and just grinded and grinded and grinded. We were talking about practice squad development and things like that. He's a player that has been a consistent development piece, either on the 53-man roster or on the practice squad. And he was a player that for a lot of weeks was inactive and things like that, and he never wavered. He just kept working and working and working and working. I think you're starting to see some of that payoff. Right now, you have Brian Brazee out for the season. John Ridgeway is dealing with an injury. You have Devon Gottschall, you've got Vernon Broughton, you've got Christian Miller, and then you've got probably one other player that's set on the roster right now. Nathan Shepard, probably the guy, actually definitely the guy because he takes over the Brian Brazee role. But then after that, you have a fifth spot open and there's a lot of competitors here. They brought in new guys like Brian Taylor Jr. and almost like Colin Saunders, Khalil Saunders. Shout out Bink. Miles Cole has been around since last year. He transitioned from being an edge rusher to moving to the interior of the defensive line. But Christian Boyd feels like the guy that maybe is the better, is the standout so far. But being the standout isn't the same as being the consistent player. So if the Saints have seen more consistency somewhere else with like Miles Cole consistently being in the right position in the run game, or a guy that's maybe young and joined a little bit late, but I like Khalil Saunders who just brings good size and good athleticism at his size and all these other things like that, that could potentially set things apart. But I think Christian Boyd with a strong performance against the Dallas Cowboys probably locks down not only a roster position, because he's had a roster spot before, but he locks not only that down, but a true rotational role. That's the thing about making the roster on the Saints defensive line. It doesn't matter where you're at. Doesn't matter if you're the top guy or if you're the first name that a fan thinks of or the first name that an analyst for an opposing team thinks of, or you're the last name that any of those people think of, you're playing football. You're getting out on the football field if you're active on game day. I think this is a big opportunity for Christian Boyd who had a really impressive preseason last year. Probably should have had a safety. Probably should have been the first point score to the 2025 season, or at least 2025 preseason. And even beyond that still had a pretty strong preseason showing. He's had some nice moments here throughout camp, some nice moments throughout the preseason. Here's a chance to put, everybody's trying to put the Rams game behind themselves, period. But here's a chance to put yourself on the map as it were, even more, with a good performance in Dallas. All right, coming up next, there's two players whose almost entire future with the New Orleans Saints completely hangs in the balance of this Dallas Cowboys game. Some new faces looking to carve out some new places. We'll get to that next as we continue on with today's episode of Locked On Saints, part of Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. Today's episode brought to you by our friends over at Odoo. Nobody Odoo the way Odoo do. Odoo is here to help you bring everything together as a business owner, right? You might have a bunch of different apps that manage things like you might have one for accounting, one for inventory, one for sales, and it all feels like they should talk to one another, but instead they don't talk to one another, so you're exporting CSVs and you're putting them all together in a different thing or you're using AI to put all this stuff together and whatever and you're paying for all that and blah, blah, blah. Well, I wanna introduce you to Odoo because it is an all-in-one business management software that makes all of that stuff much easier. It's gonna bring every part of your business together, all in one connected, powerful platform from sales, accounting, inventory and marketing. Everything works all in one place. Odoo is the one platform that you need to manage, grow and scale your business. The best operations out there, the best organizations out there are the ones who win because operations matter. That's why you should try Odoo. Try it for free today at odoo.com/locked on. That's odoo.com/locked on. Let's get it, Who Dat Nation. The New Orleans Saints have two new faces that have had effectively two opportunities to earn a roster spot with the New Orleans Saints. That's kicker Daniel Carlson and that is running back Zamir White, each of which acquired in just the last week. And as the Saints were coming back from California and had basically the Ullman Stadium Tulane practice, we'll have some pre-game sessions against the Cowboys. And then we'll have the game against the Cowboys to potentially earn a roster spot. It's a very interesting situation. Let's break it down. We appreciate you very much, as always, making us your first listen and being an everydayer here on the show. Highly suggest going to go and check out Locked On Pelicans because the New Orleans Pelicans did a thing. They signed a player, something happened. Jake Madison's got something really, really big to talk about. So he's over there breaking it down. Make sure you go and check out Locked On Pels as your second listen today with my homie, Jake Madison. Also a part of the number one sports podcast network, Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And don't forget, you can catch us daily as well over on the Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. Shout out to our friends over there. All right. Daniel Carlson, Zamir White. Super, super interesting kind of event. I don't want to call it event, but super interesting sort of circumstances, I guess, here when it comes to these guys. You've had this kicker competition role in all seasons. Charlie Smith, Tanner Brown coming in from the UFL. You have had these two guys kicking for a number of weeks, and then at the very end of camp, where there's no separation really between these two guys, it feels like. They add a new kicker in Daniel Carlson, a veteran kicker who's got eight years of experience, had a rough start to his career, started as a preacher, was a draft pick if I remember correctly, by the Minnesota Vikings, was cut or waived rather, two weeks into his NFL career, gets claimed by the then Oakland Raiders, and then spends eight years with the same organization. Second year All-Pro, excuse me, my apologies, second team All-Pro season, followed up by a first team All-Pro season, went on to have a very successful time with the Raiders. But then it all led to a split here very recently. He said that that split was handled very well, all that. He comes here to New Orleans, and he joins a kicker competition, where it's basically like, okay, come on in, you've got at most three opportunities. And that's not true, right? They're doing some kicks and things like that away from the media. But in terms of what's seen publicly, you got three opportunities. You got one in the Yulman Stadium practice, the night practice. You've got one in the pre-game kicking session before the Saints take on the Dallas Cowboys in the preseason finale. And maybe, just maybe, you'll get a kicking attempt in the Dallas Cowboys or the game against the Dallas Cowboys. And so those are his opportunities, those are his chances to earn a roster spot. That's not the worst thing in the world. It's not the easiest thing in the world either. And so for Daniel Carlson, this Cowboys game isn't just important because it's the last chance. It's kind of important because it's the only live chance that he might get. He might not even get the opportunity. Like if the Saints don't get in the field goal range for any reason, like they struggled to do up against the Los Angeles Rams, well, they got in the field goal range, but then they turned the ball over twice in field goal range, and then also had the missed field goal in the chip shot. And so, you might not get an opportunity. There's no guarantee here. And so, like unless Kellen Moore is pulling Brian Schottenheimer over, being like, hey, bro, let me get to the 30 right quick. Let me get to the 25. Let me get to the 25. Just to the 25. Let me get this field goal in real quick. Like, you can't guarantee anything. You can't guarantee anything. And so, you know, and Kellen Moore made a little quip about that in his post-practice press conference at U of M Stadium, where he was like, yeah, hopefully we have more opportunities this week than we had last week. And so, you got to imagine that Daniel Carlson is going to be first up with any kick opportunity, extra point, field goal, whatever it might be. And I think you probably get him involved in kickoff early, too, because I do think that is a part of the evaluation that we are completely glossing over, right? Like, we're counting, oh, this person went this for this and field goals and blah, blah, blah. And the kickoff part is really important, too, because if you stink at the kickoffs, you're giving your opposing, you're giving your defense a bad situation. And so you got to be better, you got to be good at the kickoffs. And so that's got to be a big part of it, too. So Daniel Carlson obviously knew the top of this list. The other guy I see on the top of this list, another former Oakland Raider, although he was acquired by way of the San Francisco 49ers is running back Zamir White. Zamir White ran for a red zone touchdown in the Yulman Stadium Tulane University practice for the evening. Delightful person to talk to, just great. And is just a downhill force of a runner, him and James Cook at Georgia were an awesome tandem together. If you're looking for somebody that can be, maybe even just on the practice squad, if you're looking for somebody else that can add another downhill element the way that Audrick Estimé and CJ Donaldson add, all of a sudden, Zamir White becomes a really, really intriguing option with NFL experience. I think that that ends up being a consideration when it comes to him. And this Dallas Cowboys game will be the one and only game that he'll play before roster cuts happen, making the performance very, very important. Let's get to a little bit of a landy up here before we wrap up today's show. I've been thinking a little bit more about the Saints decision not to play starters in this preseason finale. And I've been counting. So here's kind of what I did, right? I took, I tried to take the opinion and the feelings out of it, right? I'm still developing an opinion, but I kind of took the feelings out of it of like, oh man, come on, you got to do that. You got to play, you got to play the starters. And it's like, okay, well, why? And then what I started counting was like best case scenario, worst case scenario, good case scenario, bad case scenario. It doesn't have to be best worst. So good case scenario is only one thing. Get a good rhythm on offense, get a good rhythm on defense, carry that rhythm into the regular season. Great. That way you lessen your opportunity to start out flat, all those other things in week one of the season. The bad case scenarios though, include injury, they include going out there and going three and out twice. Then all of a sudden, the rhythm that you're bringing into the regular season is not good. And giving up too much on the defensive side. And again, the rhythm that you're carrying into or even the momentum that you're carrying into the 2026 season ends up being not very good. And so I am leaning towards understanding, inching towards the understanding of why you make the decision to not play the starters. But it just means that the practice weeks in between have to be really big. And the NFL made a change. The roster cuts are now on Sunday. And so what that means is that you cut down your roster on Sunday and then you still have a full practice week and another full practice week instead of just getting two or three practices in, or two practices in or so that first week and then your usual week getting into week one. Now you get two full weeks to do it. So that weeks, those two weeks have to make a big difference for the team as they move forward. But we'll see how things work out. So I'm warming up to the idea. I'm still not certain it's the right choice, but I'm warming up to the idea. And certainly in hindsight, somebody's going to have 2020 vision by the time it's all said and done. But with the making of the decision right now and the available information, the pros, I guess I can admit, outweigh the cons. So shut up, Ross. Let them do what they need to do. They're the one paid millions of dollars, not you. All right. Coming up in tomorrow's episode, what are some of the things we want to see improved? No, not what are. I'm going to tell you. The things we want to see improved around the New Orleans Saints as they go in their game up against the Dallas Cowboys. So coming up in our next one, we'll break down some of the things that we're looking for, for the team to improve as they move forward into their preseason finale. We appreciate you very much as always. Make this a party day part of your routine for saying yes to me in the show. If you see me, please say hi. And if you need anything else around your New Orleans Saints in between these episodes, make sure you follow me on your favorite social media at Ross Jackson. N-O-L-A. Hit me up. Let me know the family's doing and how you're living. Let me know how you're moming them. And trust you, Dat Nation, I'll holla at you."

"That is good, Who Dat Nation and Who Dat Family. I am your host, your friend, your Saints reporter, Ross Jackson. On this bonus episode, we're taking a look at how the Saints kicker battle remains pretty much wide open. Chris Olave returns and impresses despite getting the wind knocked out of him the day before. But we're going to kick everything off with the New Orleans Saints potentially not playing their starters, or not even potentially won't be playing their starters up against the Dallas Cowboys on Friday. And I think that might not be the right choice. We got all that coming up for you and a little bit of land yaps. So let's get into it. I'm not super certain about the New Orleans Saints' decision to not play starters in their third and final preseason game. Last year, the Saints played in their final preseason game about 16, 15, 16 snaps on offense with their first team offense. As well as around 20 snaps or so with their first team defense in the final preseason game. Now, there were a couple of different things about that. Obviously, there was a quarterback competition that still needed to be settled and all of these other pieces that were a part of all this, a new system, all that, that aren't present this year, right? There's no quarterback battle. There's never even been a conversation around who the quarterback is. It's very clearly Tyler Shough going into this season. And in addition, it's the same system that they ran last year with some changes and everything like that, but not the same situations where you're like implementing an entirely new system like the team was doing just last year. And so I get that part, like for the logistics part. But the thing for me that stands out about this is that like, the Saints have had issues lining up. They've had issues with alignment. They've had issues with presnap penalties. They've had issues with snapping the ball. Like they have had some of these pretty consistent concerns all throughout. Don't you feel like getting one drive or at least two drives in on offense gives you at least a little bit of an opportunity to establish some confidence there, establish some rhythm there? Now, one might say, well, if they're not doing that, it's because they have the confidence. They feel like they have the rhythm, all of those other things. That's all fine and dandy, but I just don't know. I feel like when it comes to the opportunity here to be able to get in and out of the huddle, operate with a playcock, put together a drive, move the ball down the field, move the chains, all those other things, that getting that rhythm is better than not having that rhythm than you're going into the regular season. And then on the defensive side, the same thing, right? Getting into the rhythm of your bin don't break mentality, your diagnosis drive, defending scripted drives, all those other things. There's real value in all of that from the way that I look at it. Now, there is obviously one big glaring red siren over the course of all of this, which is rhythm, confidence, all of that doesn't mean anything. If your starters are hurt, you can have all the rhythm and confidence you want. If the players end up hurt in the preseason game and can't play in the regular season, you have no rhythm. You have lesser confidence, all of those other things. And so, I completely get that argument. And like that could be the consideration here. The Saints have dealt with injuries. It was an independent study that was done around the Saints having the second most injuries throughout training camps, second only to the San Francisco 49ers, who may or may not have an issue with a substation next to their practice facility. I don't know. I don't want to get into that. It's kind of weird. But like, I get it. You know what I mean? I understand the concerns when you're a team that's already hurt. I mean, you know, Kellan Moore made a quip about it the other day when he was like, yeah, we got a healthy amount of them, healthy amount of injuries. And so, you know, there's like an acknowledgement of that. There's an understanding of that. And certainly like, trust me, if you're seeing how injured the team is, the team knows how injured it is. Team so injured, it's not doing first team, second team, third team anymore. It's doing first team, second team. It's just rotating pieces in the midst of all that because so many players are hurt. So I get it from that perspective, right? Ross, you can talk about rhythm. You can talk about confidence, all you want. But if you don't have the players out on the field, you ain't got that anyway. And so I do understand that. But I don't know. I do think that there are some kinks still left to be worked out that this team could use this final preseason matchup to build some confidence around over the course of a couple of drives. The bigger question too is, is just a couple of drives, is that enough even to even achieve the things that we're talking about? Or just having two full weeks of practice before you play your regular season game, is that what ends up being more valuable? Maybe that's the case, but I don't know. I would use this preseason, this final preseason game as an opportunity. If I were making decisions but I'm not making decisions, I just get to talk about the decisions comfortably from behind a microphone without millions of dollars hanging on my decision. So that makes it a little bit easier for me than it does for anybody else. I do understand that. I'm the pompous guy talking from behind a microphone. I get it. The other thing that stood out as one of the big stories from the Saints practice at Yuleman Stadium at Tulane University, one of my favorite events in New Orleans Saints do. Super cool. You could feel the energy of the fan base. All of that. Big shout out to everybody that said hi. Big shout out to Wyatt. Happy birthday to David, like all the other folks that we got to meet. Awesome, awesome, awesome. And so like really, really exciting environment for fans to be able to kind of partake in with the team. Team stays out there for like half an hour after practice, signing autographs and everything like that. But the other big story that came out of that practice was Chris Olave. Chris Olave who had the wind knocked out of him when he came down hard on his back in Tuesday's practice trying to sky over rookie cornerback TJ. Hall to make a catch, came down hard on his back, left the practice field. Kellen Moore gave the update after that practice that, yeah, we think he just kind of got the wind knocked out of him. Looked like he just kind of got the wind knocked out of him. Well, that proved to be true. He was back out on the field Wednesday night at Yuleman Stadium at Tulane University and put on a show. Couple of touchdowns in the red zone, excellent route running, great catches, all those other things. Had one play that got broken up on him, the very, very last play of the first team when he came across the back of the end zone in position to make the catch and Kool-Aid McKinstry with a fantastic play to knock the ball out. You could see Kool-Aid celebrate like 50 yards down the field after that one because Chris was having such a great day all throughout. But really, really excellent stuff from him, excellent stuff from Tyler Shough as well who had an absolute dot of a ball to Kevin Austin Jr. who caught two touchdowns in the evening practice, had caught him in the back left corner of the end zone. Really, really excellent display from both of these guys. But a sigh of relief heard in Yulman Stadium when 12 made his way back out on the field. And don't worry, I heard your sigh of relief as well. All right, coming up next, where the Saints didn't get a sigh of relief was in their kicker battle, which just doesn't seem to be separating even this late in the offseason. We got that coming up for you next week. We continue on with today's episode of Locked On Saints, part of Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. Today's episode of Locked On Saints is brought to you by our friends over at Indeed, the best place to go. If you still have that job open, that you were supposed to get filled, and you know you need the right person for the hire, well, that's where Indeed Sponsored Jobs can come in. They'll make sure that you are able to kind of pinpoint some of your potential best candidates based on specific needs and things like that, kind of like skills and certifications, location even and more so you can spend time searching when you have kind of like a larger qualified candidate pool as opposed to just hoping that somebody stumbles across your job posting on one of those other job board sites. I've gotten my fair share of jobs through Indeed and one of the big reasons is because it targeted somebody like me at the time when I was working in theater that was looking for somebody that had the experience that I had. They worked great. And so right now, listeners of this show can get $75 in Indeed Sponsored Job Credit. All you got to do is over to indeed.com/podcast, Terms and Conditions Apply. Again, that's indeed.com/podcast. Need to hire? That's a job for Indeed Sponsored Job. Today's episode also brought to you by our friends over at Odoo. Okay, once you get those hires in the building, you want to make sure that everybody's coming together and working towards the same goal. That's what Odoo helps you do when it comes to the software. And sometimes it feels like you're stuck managing a bunch of software instead of worrying about your customers. You're trying to pull together a bunch of different systems that should talk to one another, but for whatever reason they don't. You got one app for accounting, one app for inventory, another app for sales, and they all should talk to one another, but they of course never do. That's where Odoo comes in, an all-in-one business management piece of software. It helps you bring your business together on one powerful platform. I couldn't imagine having all those different apps that you're trying to manage with all of the other things that you got going on running a business as well. So if you are somebody that runs a business and you're looking to win this time around, well, here is the way to do it and what great organizations win, because operations matter and that's why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at odoo.com/lockedon/locked on. That's it. That's odoo.com/locked on. Let's get it, Who Dat Nation. The New Orleans Saints kicker battle rages on the New Orleans Saints trio of kickers, Charlie Smyth, Tanner Brown, and then the recently added Daniel Carlson, the nine-year going into his ninth year, eight-year NFL veteran kicked eight kicks today. And the separation that you might have hoped to see didn't necessarily feel like it was there. We appreciate you very much as always for being here with us, as we get you caught up on everything that went down. And it was kind of Saints training camp, day 19, but practice 16. Like I kind of put the walkthroughs and practices in different categories. But anyway, all three kickers kicked eight times in front of the media. This is the first time they've kicked in front of us outside of preseason games, going back to the Jaguars preseason game, believe it or not. Now, they've kicked otherwise, right? They kicked before each of those games in terms of kicking sessions. They had individual kicking sessions before, or not individual, but they had additional kicking sessions before like the Rams joint practice, for instance, and things like that. And so they've, they seem to have been cataloging all this stuff. And so they have everything that they need. Kelly Moore was talking about it after practice today. And what we saw at Yuleman Stadium was a really good competition, but one that didn't really feel like it's created much separation. First time we got the opportunity to see Daniel Carlson kick. He kicked eight kicks along with the other three, along with the other two guys in Charlie Smith, as well as Tanner Brown. And he went seven of eight, Charlie Smith went seven of eight, Tanner Brown went eight of eight. Now, the range of these kicks varied from extra point a couple of times, all the way up to about 55 or 56 yards. Our angle was a little weird, so I don't have the specific yard line for it. But Charlie Smith's miss came from that 56, 55-yard range, while Daniel Carlson's appeared to come from more of the mid 40-yard range. So maybe there's a little bit of a delineation in that. But Tanner Brown went eight of eight, right? He didn't miss a single kick, but he also missed a chip shot at the end of the Saints-Rams preseason game. So does one kick of a difference make that much of a difference when it comes to the conversation around the kickers? So I think this is going to end up going into the pregame kicking sessions before the Cowboys game, and then opportunities that they will hopefully get to march a kicker out there during the game against the Cowboys. And so here we are still awaiting the decision for New Orleans, and it's hard to wait for a decision because I don't think that New Orleans still has all the information that they need to be able to make that decision. They just know that they need to make it at some point. And so we'll see exactly what ends up happening. Here's one thing that I'll mention about Charlie Smith. If Charlie Smith does not win the kicker competition, he is still eligible as an international, almost an independent, as an INDEP, sorry, as an international player to not hold or take up a counting roster spot on the practice squad. Like right now, the Saints have 91 players on their active roster. They moved two guys to injury reserve recently, a cornerback, Ray Jean Wright, as well as tight end, Maliki Mataval. They brought in two more defensive backs, David Long Jr., as well as Michael Davis, who was with the team for like 11 games last season. And so, they have a full roster of 90 players plus Charlie Smith, because he is, because it's a training camp, so he doesn't count against the 90-man roster. He would count against the 53-man roster on the active roster, but as an international practice player, he would not count against one of the 16 spots on the practice squad. So if he doesn't win this battle, the Saints could still stash him, keep working with him, allow him to continue to develop, because he's made so many right-direction strides. I should have just said so many strides in the right direction, but I was trying to be cute. It didn't work, sorry. So many strides in the right direction, that if Tanner Brown or if Daniel Carlson, the veteran, were to win the job, they could still keep Charlie Smyth around in case they need to make a change later, and then do just like they did with Blake Groupie, potentially even bring in some more competition in the middle of the season, like they did with Justin Tucker almost, and then Cade York as a part of it. So they could still play this and walk away with two kickers on their overall roster from the active roster to the practice squad, with Charlie Smyth not counting against one of those practice squad spots. So that could be a route that they go. We'll see exactly what happens. It's going to be very interesting, I think. I think you probably start with... It's going to be very interesting to see who gets the first opportunity to kick a field goal if a field goal opportunity presents itself. I feel like you got to go Daniel Carlson because you've seen Charlie Smyth kick a couple of field goals or attempt a couple of field goals. You've seen or maybe really... Yeah, yeah, yeah, a couple, because he also had the extra points and then he had a miss from 50 plus or whatever it was, 52 in the Jacksonville game. You've seen Tanner Brown kick his field goals from, I think it was like 29 and 49 and then he had a miss from 39 in the second game, if I'm recalling that correctly. Then there were no point after attempts or no additional field goal attempts, anything like that. I feel like you got to give Daniel Carlson the first kick to make sure you get an opportunity to see him under the lights, with a little bit of pressure in a game situation, live bullets, all that kind of stuff. One thing that I'll mention when it comes to watching Daniel Carlson kick is that he kicks low. His kicks are very low. I'll be very interested to see if you get a game situation where you're kicking from 50 plus and you have that low trajectory, do you end up possibly risking being blocked in those situations? That'll be a little something, a little bit of land yap, maybe, to watch out for when it comes to Daniel Carlson kicking. I feel like you give him probably first run, probably give Charlie Smith second run since he's had the fewest field goal attempts. I think it's fair to say in terms of field goal attempts, he had a couple of extra points. Then you go to Tanner Brown if you get a third one. But I mean, the ideal situation here, I mean, look, here's the perfect situation. All three kickers get to try a kick up against the Dallas Cowboys, and all three of those kickers are kicking from the exact same place. They're all 55-yard field goals, they're all 40. Actually, no, the ideal situation is that they're all 45-yard field goals, because the inability to hit kicks between 40 and 49 yards is something that's plagued the Saints over the course of the past couple of years. And so, that would probably be the ideal situation. But the lesser ideal situation, that's still an ideal situation, and more realistic situation is simply you get at least three field goal attempts of any kind. Play act, point after attempts, field goal, whatever it might be. And you get to see these guys kick off a few times as well, because I think that's got to be a big part of this. Directionality, hanging upon low, hitting, or not low, hanging upon short, keeping it in the landing zone, all those things like that has to be a part of this devaluation as well. And so if one player has better placement in the kickoff spot, and everybody's kind of in the same world when it comes to field goals, maybe the kickoff is the thing that ends up becoming the separating factor. We'll see. All right. In tomorrow morning's episode, we're going to take a look ahead to the players that need to stand out with the opportunity that they have up against the Dallas Cowboys on Friday and much more. We appreciate you very much as always, keep it as a part of your day, part of your routine, for saying yes to me in the show. If you see me, please say hi. If you need anything else around you or New Orleans Saints in between these episodes, make sure you follow me on your favorite social media, AtRossJackson, N-O-L-A. Hit me up. Let me know what your family is doing, how you're living. Let me know how your mom and them, AtRossToThatNation, Ohio Legend."

"You know, the Jordan Tyson situation makes the receiver room one to watch for me. And I think everybody at this point would say Chris Olave and Devon Vailay are locks. Who are going to be receivers three, four and five? Like, that's what I'm looking at. Is it going to be Barry Brown and Bryce Lance? Are they shoe ends? Is it Kevin Austin Jr.? Is it Bub Means? Is it is it memes? Is it Bub Means? Is it Ronnie Bell? I mean, like, there's a bunch of guys that have a pretty good opportunity knowing that they're a man down. So that could potentially open up a roster spot for somebody that maybe originally they didn't have plans to roster at this point. And so I'm not necessarily worried about the order three, four or five. But who are those guys going to be? Like, that's what I want to see. I think there's opportunity there for somebody to have a really big game, an impactful game, and change their fortune. And being undrafted myself, a long shot to make rosters early on in my career, those are the types of guys that I cheer for. The guys that were drafted that are rookies in this class, I think they have a really good shot. So maybe we're just talking about that fifth roster spot, Trey Palmer. I mean, there's a bunch of guys that have the ability to be that fifth receiver. And I think that fifth receiver is going to have to play special teams. So out of that bunch, which guy is going to show up in this game and make some plays and make the front office and the coaching staff really believe, like, OK, we can roll this guy out here every Sunday, and he's going to be a plus for us in the special teams department."

"I thought Lance looked good, right? That was the one guy who kind of caught my eye. I think Cropper made a good catch. But no, it wasn't great all the way around. More so speaking, in general, I've seen good things from Kevin Austin Jr. I've seen good things from Barryon Brown. I've seen good things from Bryce Lance today in the limited action he had. I thought Trey Palmer showed some good things late last game. I guess that statement was more so, you know, in totality than just these 60 minutes. These 60 minutes was pretty bad. But just in general, you see some of these players, you want to see depth."

"Well, yeah, I mean, I was there in Oxnard and actually Thousand Oaks, where the workout took place for Chase Claypool and Josh Reynolds. And let's just say that neither of those guys are getting signed anytime soon. But I agree with you, Dylan, there are not just the rookies in that wide receiver room, there are other guys, Kevin Austin Jr., Bub Means, these guys have been around for a couple of years. And guys that I think deserve at least the first shot at trying to hold it down or hold down the fort while there are some injuries in the receiver room, along with the rookies, along with Devon Vellay. It's not crisis mode, I don't think, for the wide receiver position. They did hold Vellay out against the Cowboys, and that was more of a precautionary thing because they didn't want to overload him. And I was just, because I thought he was injured. He's like, no, no, no, I'm not injured. This is a precautionary thing. I would love to be out here practicing, but they want to hold me out. And I said, look, man, sometimes you got to protect the player from himself. You got to do whatever it takes to get as many bodies, healthy bodies to week one as possible. And if they believe that keeping you off of your legs for this day is part of that, then so be it. It is what it is. Be a good teammate, be an extra coach, an extra set of eyes on the sideline. But yeah, an opportunity for other guys to step up. I think that's what this boils down to, at least at this moment. Now, if we're having this same conversation a week from now, 10 days from now, then maybe it's a little bit different. Maybe we're thinking about, hey, what receiver, what veteran receiver could we bring in that could help us? There's obviously still a couple of injuries in the backfield. I mean, it could be a situation where we're looking at running back depth. I mean, I think the edge position with Cam, I don't know that they're going to be adding anybody. I think there's plenty of guys over there. But you never know. You never really know."