Locked On Saints - Daily Podcast On The New Orleans Saints
REBOUND: New Orleans Saints' Kendre Miller Poise For Big Role Against Detroit Lions
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No waiting, no fluff. Subscribe on Amazon Music and never miss a snap. With questions mounting around Alvin Kamara's availability, it's Kendre Miller who's going to be signing up for a big-time bounce back opportunity against Detroit. You are Locked On Saints, your daily New Orleans Saints podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What is good, Who Dat Nation and Who Dat Family? We are your hosts, your Saints reporters and your friends, Ross Jackson and Dylan Sanders. Thank you very much for being here with us today. On today's episode, we're previewing even more of the Saints and Lions season opener. We'll dive into the defense's ability to match up with some big-time playmakers. We'll take a look at tight ends as well for the New Orleans Saints. Some injury shake up there. What's the confidence in that room? We're going to kick everything off with maybe another confidence conversation, Dylan, on Kendre Miller and his ability to be a potential big-time contributor in this game. We appreciate you being here. Today's episode brought to you by our friends over at FanDuel where right now you can get $350 and bonus bets guaranteed. When you bet $5 every day for seven days, join all the action at fanduel.com. Dylan, we're waiting to see exactly what's going to happen with Alvin Kamara tomorrow on Sunday in terms of what his availability is going to be. He's questionable. You did a Locked On Saints hit about that. If he's not able to go, and maybe even if he is able to go, I'm expecting a pretty big day of contribution coming from running back Kendre Miller. Are you seeing it kind of the same way? Yeah. You'd have to expect to. Obviously, Travis Etienne is going to be the workhorse, I guess, in this game because even if Alvin Kamara is playing, it's clear he's not at 100 percent. But Kendre Miller needs to take advantage of every opportunity that he gets, and needs to find his way to not get off the field as much as possible because he has to take advantage of any snaps he can get this year. You know, almost to 500 yards for his career over three years. He is so excited whenever he plays. It's just the availability. It's the same thing. We've had the same conversation about Kendre, I feel like, for three years. But this year, it does feel like he's entering with some momentum. It's good to see that he didn't actually lose any time because of the injury. Every time he goes down, people get nervous. I think, fairly, it's just, you know, it turned out to not be anything. The team, I think, is going to be very cautious with him whenever he is feeling like anything is wrong. But whenever he's on the field, expect a heavy dose. Yeah, I think he ends up being the primary compliment to Travis Etienne Jr, no matter what happens with Alvin Kamara here, right? It's Nick Underhill over at New Orleans South Football that kind of said, like, we'll see when it comes to Alvin Kamara, not we'll see Alvin Kamara. That was taken out of context there, but we'll see what happens when it comes to Alvin Kamara. But the other reality of it is that even if he's good to go, he also hasn't practiced up until this week since going back to that Dallas Cowboys joint practice in, what was that, early August, I think, at that point. So it's been a little while, and so there's always the conditioning conversation, like all those other things where you want to make sure that this player is ready to go, not just back from injury, like, yeah, cleared and good, but not necessarily, doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as being in what we would call football shape or whatever. And so I would say even with Alvin Kamara active, that it makes a lot of sense for Kendre Miller to be the second guy to Travis Etienne Jr. And the last time that we saw Kendre in the system that they're projecting this year, he had a really strong game, a lot more zone run, a lot more kind of counter, a lot more under center run expected this year. That was the Buffalo Bills game in week four, where he had 65 rushing yards on 11 carries, as well as a rushing touchdown in that matchup. I think that if that's the way that the Saints are going to go here going into the season, that getting him a healthy share, I think that this is still dominated by Etienne, but a healthy share of targets or carries, I guess, touches going his way. It can still make a lot of sense for him. Well, that's kind of the interesting thing about this running back room, because even when Alvin Kamara is fully healthy, Kendre Miller also does make a little bit more sense as a natural compliment to what Travis Etienne does. They're obviously going to use Travis Etienne and Alvin Kamara a lot, but Kendre Miller is more of a change of pace. He's six foot, 220. He offers something a little bit different. It's kind of why I was excited about Audrick Estimé, what he could bring to this room, and what he hopefully will in the future, obviously not playing in this game. But I think you can do some more things with Kendre, a healthy Kendre that Alvin can't at least anymore or right now, not at 100 percent. Yeah. Our game. Yeah. I very much get the cautious optimism around Kendre, right? Like there are people that, including myself, that still very much believe like, look, he's a massively talented player. But I understand the like, but is he going to stay healthy? Can he stay healthy? It would be disingenuous to say that that concern is not going to be there because of all the different injuries that he's dealt with. I'm sure it's something he has to deal with as well, equally frustrating for him, as I always like to point out. But I do think that he is uniquely talented in terms of the speed that he does still have, his ability to be able to break open plays on the interior, running in between the tackles, his ability to push piles as well. I always think about that New York Giants rushing touchdown that he had out there. I do think you're right that he serves as the better complement in terms of doing things a little bit differently than Travis Etienne Jr and making the rushing attack a little bit more expansive as opposed to replicating what each other does, which is kind of what you would see with an A-chan, A-K type of share. But also, A-chan and A-K doing the same thing at same speeds but in different styles also makes things hard for the defense to get into a rhythm against the run game. So there's always complements to be had. It's just, I think Kendre is a little bit more of, not an opposite, just different profile of a player. Yeah, you're not going to get the route running from Kendre that you get from Alvin, right? The ability to move him out into the slot, the ability to utilize him in certain things like choice, angle routes, like all these other things, these Texas routes, all that. And I'll throw in screen passes, right? I'll add that to the mix as well. I do think you can utilize, Kendre, in that, in the screen pass realm. But is Alvin going to be ready to do all of those things here in week one, right? As we preview like the Lions game specifically, all those things are great for what he's going to be able to do going into the, you know, 2026 season as a whole. But what does it look like for week one? I think it's probably a little bit more dialed back because he hasn't practiced in some time. Keeping in mind the fact that like he knows the offense, he probably doesn't need that much training camp or whatever. But I do think the conditioning factor is a big part of it. So I do think you have to find a way to lean on Kendre. And I think this serves as a pretty good proof-it moment for Kendre right out the bat to establish a tone early of what it is that he might be able to do to contribute. Also, we've talked a lot on our hits this week about the secondary, the size of the secondary being something that the Saints can attack through the air. But you're also going to need to make these 5'9 cornerbacks have to tackle Kendre Miller and Travis Etienne out on the outside. So that is something where I, my ears perked up when you're talking about the screen game, just imagining Devon Vailay blocking for even Kendre or Travis Etienne on a screen game on the outside, breaking one open. I feel like they could because I just, we've talked about Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph being out, and that certainly hurts. Obviously, they've had time to adjust. They knew they were going to be out. They signed Yvonne Maddox and Chuck Clark, but you feel a lot better facing Chuck Clark and Yvonne Maddox than Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph. Yeah. No offense to those guys. They're proven veterans in the league and everything like that, but absolutely, you're absolutely right. Those are post-season award-type style safeties that Detroit is going to be without. So I completely agree with you there. Speaking of that safety conversation, Dylan, I think the next piece that we look at, all this is going to be the tight end room. Talk about another place where injuries have all of a sudden upset a little bit of what it is that we were expecting Oscar Delp out for this game. We'll discuss a little bit next about who ends up also contributing at tight end beyond the top two guys and how much of a big role we should expect from the tight ends. And this one, we'll have that coming up for you next week. Continue on with this, let's call it Saturday edition of Locked On Saints, part of Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's episode is brought to you by our friends over at Odoo, the place to go if you are a small business owner that's tired of having all of these different systems that are all disconnected from each other for seemingly no reason on a bunch of things that otherwise you would imagine would be connected. One app for accounting, an app for inventory, an app for sales, and for whatever reason, none of them seem to want to talk to one another. 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This season FanDuel is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field. And now, featuring all of these new pieces every week, make sure you check out the FanDuel app to see what's waiting for you right now. The New Orleans Saints 6.5 point underdogs up against the Detroit Lions on the road. If you think that they can cover there or potentially even win there, you can get in on that. Chris Olave receiving yards, Tyler Shug passing yards, and much more. You're going to be able to find it all over at FanDuel today or put them all together in one parlay for an even bigger payout and opportunity for you there. To make this the most rewarding season ever with FanDuel, visit fanduel.com to get started. All right, so as we continue on here today, taking a look at how the New Orleans Saints offense will incorporate its tight ends, we thank you very much for being here with us and making it your first listen. For your second listen today, go and check out all the great work my good friend Dylan Sanders here has done all throughout the week. Dylan, how many episodes of Locked On Saints hit total, both vertical video that you could find on social media as well as like five-minute episodes on YouTube and audio? How many did you end up doing this week? Do you have a number off the top of your head? I believe 30 episodes. There you go. 30 different pieces of content for you over at Locked On Saints hit. You can find it on your favorite social media on YouTube or wherever you get podcasts as well. Go and support. There's going to be more than 30. There will be more than 30 next week because it's six videos a day between the podcast and the hits. But we're also going to be obviously doing Sunday. We're not taking Sundays off. No, I know where we're taking Sundays off. And speaking of Sundays, you can also catch us after the game on Sunday in our Locked On Saints squad show as well. So make sure you come through for that and check out Locked On Saints hit for even more content. So the Saints tight end Rondillard has kind of changed a little bit in terms of what it was that we were expecting going into this season. I don't know about you, but my expectations were Juwan Johnson, no fan, Maliki Matavel and then Oscar Delp. Now injuries, of course, have shaken that up. Maliki Matavel, unfortunately, done for the season, just took an unfortunate hit on the right sideline up against the Rams. That ended his season before it technically began, but he was having a really strong off season. And then Oscar Delp, a guy that I know you were really excited about coming into the league and all throughout the draft process, I think a lot of us were, that is... I'm totally out on him. No, don't do that. Don't do that. No. But that stuff and now coming in with the injury, having a hamstring, all those other things, now all of a sudden he's not going to be available for this game. And so the next piece of this is how do they end up leaning on multi-tied insets, all the things that they were planning on doing, with just Juwan Johnson and Noah Fant on the roster. But it feels like the practice squad, of course, is going to be the solution there. Yeah. Trayton Welch, I think, probably offers a little bit more of a solid option than Oscar Delp right now. In a perfect world where I think players could get sent to a practice squad and not be stolen. I think Delp might have even done that. Delp is a fun player. I like the profile of what he could bring in the best case scenario. But even then, I was expecting him to not be that big of it, have that much of an impact this season in terms of... They invested in Joanne Johnson really recently. I think he and Tyler Schuck are close, obviously. And then they brought in Noah Fant. They were already planning to not have to focus on Oscar Delp. So now, really, what's the difference between him learning on the sideline in street clothes versus him learning on the sideline in uniform? Yeah, that's a good point, right? We always talk about when it comes to the development of certain position groups, bridging the gap from college to the pros, that tight end is usually one of those ones that's pretty tricky. That one, center, sometimes interior offensive line as a whole, all that. I think that all of those things are important to keep in mind when it comes to Oscar Delp or if it would have been those four guys that we mentioned going into this one, I think he would have been the fourth one and then his role would have grown and developed and changed over the course of the season because he's only going to get better from here. He's only going to develop more from here. And so it would have given- We're not saying his rookie season is over either. It's just he's starting on the IR, just not that big of a deal of a start to his- He's not even starting on the IR, he's just out for this game. Not on the IR, yeah. And so I think that the big thing for this one is like get a guy like Traiton Welsh up, who was able to go out there and have a pretty good and impressive third preseason game against the Cowboys, really took advantage of his opportunity there, made the initial roster at first, and then they ended up moving them so that they could, sending them the waivers so they can get guys like Murphy as well as the defensive tackle, wouldn't in the building and all that, and so you just shuffle this up. I like the way that Kellan Moore talked about it, was that everybody focuses on the 53-man roster, but then you also have this practice squad and an additional international player for them. You have a 70-man roster, and you're going to make some of those elevations, changes, things like that, and so I think Traiton Welsh is the guy that ends up coming in here, but I want to underscore one of the things that you said. This doesn't mean that Oscar Delp's rookie season is all of a sudden at a loss here. We're talking about one game could become more games, but at some point, he's going to be expected to still contribute during his rookie year. Yeah, absolutely. Again, I'm very excited about his athletic profile and what he's going to be able to do in the future. It's just about getting him up to speed. Tight end, like you said, is one of the hardest positions to learn in the NFL and get to that level. I think if Trayton Welch gets called up, which I think is my expectation for this game, or finds his way to the active roster some way, I think that is just as good in this game as Oscar Delp would have been. I don't think it's going to have that much of an impact on the Lions game. I think Trayton Welch is a surprising blocker for his size and a solid athlete, a solid receiver. He's been around at least another season. So I think they're going to be fine. I think they're going to be fine. Yeah. And that's going to be a position group that they're going to lean on, right? Like they want to be able to lean on that group in the run game. They want to be able to lean on that group. And you were talking about them being down the Detroit Lions, two of their starting safeties. This is a real opportunity then for you to be able to maybe attack that weakness with these bigger bodies down the field. I've been really high on Jawan Johnson this off season and heading into this year. I mean, it feels crazy to say, but still trying to convince people that Jawan Johnson is a productive tight end in this offense. Whenever he was the third in the league in yards last season, and Tyler Shuck only took over halfway through the year. Because obviously he was important for Spencer Rattler because whenever a quarterback needs a safety valve, it's the tight end, and so they went to him. But he's not just a safety valve for Tyler Shuck, he's a weapon with Tyler Shuck, and I think that he's going to be good. Maybe it's just the fact that he doesn't score that many touchdowns. And obviously the drops, whatever they do happen, are bad, are ugly and bad. But I'm confident in him going into this year that he's going to be one of the better tight ends in the NFL, at least in the top 10. Yeah. He could be top five production. Yeah. I've been pretty comfortable in telling everybody, like go and draft Juwan Johnson in your fantasy leagues. Like I feel pretty confident in him when it comes to that. And a large part of that really also comes down to the... Look, okay, week eight on last year, right? He averaged like 1.9-ish yards per reception, which led the position in that span of time. He had like a 9.4, 9.5-yard-per-reception average, maybe a 9.9. But he was like in the high, like nine points in terms of yards per reception as well over that stretch. And so like he produces and he has produced. And I think that he will continue. I think that those early drops in the season kind of tarnished everything else in terms of like the filter through which he was viewed for the rest of the season. But I think it's pretty clear that he's a consistent contributor and somebody that is likely to be gained on quite a bit in this matchup. Yeah. Yards Per Reception, you were saying? Yeah. What was his Yards Per Reception all season? All season was 11.1, 11.5. Yeah. And then he had like a really solid one. Yeah. From the Rams game on is usually whatever I look at. It was 12.7. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like very, very productive over the course of that time. That's like elite college tight end production. Right. Right. Right. I mean, you know, so I think he becomes a part of it. And I think like Noah Phant too is kind of unheralded in the midst of all of this, in terms of his ability to be able to contribute as well, because he has a little bit of that overlap with Joanne. He's also a strong blocker. There's a lot of the kind of contributions that we might see from the tight end position. I wouldn't be surprised if they come from number 87 throughout all this, because he has a lot of the same situations. He's a seam attack guy as well. We saw that throughout training camp too. I'm excited to see what it is that he brings as an extra element of explosiveness to the passing offense, while also being a really strong blocker in the process. Those Iowa tight ends. I thought no offense was going to be the next George Kittle. He obviously hasn't been that, but now, I've wanted the Saints to have him since 2019, so it'll be fun to see finally have it. It seems like the Saints have wanted him for a while too. But everybody's happy now. Yeah, you got your wish. You got your wish on that. Is he the offensive Julian Blackman? I was just about to say, and he's not the only one, you're not the only one that is getting a wish, because Brandon Staley got his wish when he finally landed Julian Blackman last year, who is very excited to be back out on the field this year. We're going to take a look at that side of the football next, because this New Orleans Saints defense has a really tall task ahead of him, in terms of handling the skilled position players on Detroit. But there are some ways that they might be able to do it. We're going to break that down next as we continue on with today's episode of Locked On Saints. But I like our podcast network, your team, every day. Matt Derry here from the Locked On Lions podcast. Life insurance is one of those things you don't really think about until you have a reason to. For me, it really hit home when my father passed away over 20 years ago. You start thinking less about yourself and more about the people who depend on you, making sure they're taken care of no matter what. That's why I like Ethos. They make getting life insurance simple. It's 100 percent online, no doctor visits, no needles, none of that. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in just a few minutes, and even get same day coverage. Honestly, that's huge because life gets busy. You can get up to $3 million in coverage and some plans are as low as just $30 a month. It's just one of those things that gives you peace of mind, knowing your family is protected. Take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com/lockedonnfl. That is ethos.com/lockedonnfl. Applications may vary, rates may vary. Boo, Matt. Today's episode also brought to you by our friends over at Gametime. The best place to go to pick up tickets for this matchup or any matchup throughout the New Orleans Saints 2026 NFL season. And of course, for all of your favorite events as well, whether that's sports, comedy, theater, concerts, whatever it is that you're looking for, you're going to be able to find it over at Gametime without all of the holdups of all the other stuff that makes it pretty tough sometimes to grab tickets like exponentially long queues and waiting lines and your surprise fees and all those other things. I highly recommend just a couple of taps checking out zone deals over on Gametime to let you choose the section and then Gametime ends up picking the seats for you and then you save even more that way. But you're still going to make sure you're in a section that you want to be. If you want to be on the 50-yard line, you can still select that section that will get you there. They'll pick the tickets and it's going to save you even more over there. We've used Gametime before. Use the pickup tickets for baseball games, things like that when we've been out of town. So go and check them out today as well. Get your tickets and make sure you get them over on Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use the promo code LockedOn to get $20 off of your first purchase term supply. Again, create an account and use code LockedOn for $20 off. Let's get into that nation. The New Orleans Saints defense is going to be challenged quite a bit by this Detroit Lions offense, particularly their skill position players. But they do have the talent, the system, and I think the play caller to make things a little bit tougher than some might expect over in Detroit. We appreciate you very much as always. Make it a sure first listen and being an every dayer here on the show. Don't forget to go and check out our good friend, both Dylan and I is good friends, our good friend Matt Moscona over at Locked On LSU. He's going to have you covered before and after today's LSU games. Make sure you go and hit him up today. Available wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube here on the number one sports podcast network, Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Dylan, why don't we pick up right where we left off? Julian Blackman had his season, unfortunately, come to an end after the first game of the year last year. I talked to him in the locker room on Friday, yesterday about this opportunity. He was talking about how excited he is and how happy he is that he gets to go out there and play football again today or tomorrow and everything. What kind of impact does a guy like Julian Blackman who you've watched since his collegiate days, you were really high on him coming out of the draft and everything too. What kind of impact does a guy like that have against an offense like this that's going to look to air it out and make sure your mics are muted before you start talking as well? I've never had an issue like that before. If anyone's ever seen the same squad show, they know it goes perfectly with no technical issues. All right. I am very excited to see what he does. There's a reason that Julian that Brandon Staley has wanted Julian Blackman for so long. It is what he does in the coverage game as a ball hawk. He has incredible ball skills and I'm excited to see them put to use and he is going to be an, not only an improvement at free safety, but him being there at safety is going to allow Jonas Sanker to move to the star role, which I think is crucial for this game and is going to be an improvement over Allante Taylor. So having Julian Blackman come back not only helps you out, as I think he is probably, he's definitely more like a pro ready safety than Jonas Sanker was in terms of being that, you know, center fielder type. But Jonas Sanker now gets to put all of the skills that he's very good at into the star role. The Saints defense gets better as a whole. And it's going to be important in this game. I really am interested to see what Jonas Sanker does against Amon-Ra St. Brown. That is such a tough matchup to have in the slot for your first game. To have one of the most efficient... I looked it up. Amon-Ra's drop rate in the slot is under 6%. I think it's 5.8%. So they get him so many easy looks. And most of those are also still contested. So it's not like they're just easy. Like he's just really hard to mess up in the slot. He's one of the most efficient players in the NFL. And he can also beat you out a lot. Yeah. I think that the advantage for any wide receiver working in the slot is the amount of space that you work with. If you're on the perimeter, you have a boundary, you know, an out of bounds boundary to one of your sides. And then you have space towards the infield side. If you're operating in the slot, you've got space in every direction. You know, forward, back, left, right. Like you have space. And that's what makes being a slot defender on the other side of that so complicated because of the ability to maximize route concepts, pivot routes, things like that, that take advantage of both inside and outside space, option routes, things like that. Amon-Ra St. Brown is one of the best in the NFL at doing that. And so I think that the idea of the physicality that Jonas Sanker potentially brings to this might end up being a big time key. And you're right, without Julian Blackman being the ballhawk that he is, and being somebody that can go out there and take away the deep area of the field, the center of the field, however it is that they're going to play it, he's a field side safety for the team, it's going to end up opening not just what his impact can be, but I like your point, it opens up what Jonas Sanker's impact in this one can be as well. I think Julian Blackman also becomes really important for a guy like Jameson Williams too. Oh yeah, this offense, and not just Jameson Williams, the part of this Lions offense that is so brutal, they are down into the Jep chart, have weapons, Isaac Tesla, 4'4, 3'4, 6'3, 6'4, guy, that is another person that Julian Blackman is going to have to keep an eye on and keep notice of. And that's why it's good to have a safety back there that can do that because he matches up a little bit better over those big bodied wide receivers down the field. And what I was going to say about Jonas Sanker, it's also the football IQ that he's bringing to the field. He's one of the smartest players on the Saints defense. And how does that help whatever you're matching up against a guy like Amon-Ra St. Brown? Yeah, that ends up having a massive impact because you're able to use both the combination of that intelligence football IQ to both understand how the defense is operating around you, so you know where you have help, you know where you can leverage, how to use your leverage, what all that's going to mean. And then I think from a preparedness standpoint, obviously it's huge too. I talked to Terry Joseph during, I think it was during mini camps, the Saints defensive pass game coordinator. And I asked him a little bit about what it was that Jonas exhibited that allowed them to feel comfortable saying, okay, we're going to put him in the slot. He's going to man up that position now. And one of the things he talked about wasn't just his play, it wasn't just his physicality, it wasn't even that stuff. It was how smart he is. And so I love that you pointed that out because that was a big part of why the Saints felt comfortable making that decision in the first place. And I think understanding where your help is, understanding your leverage, how to use your leverage, how to try to dictate the terms up against a wide receiver running out of the slot. I think that's where all that intelligence and that high football IQ ends up coming into play. You know how Virginia used Jonas Sanker on defense? Yeah. It's like that one kid in high school that's really good, so they just never take him off. They just let, there's like, all right, Jonas, we can't do this. We don't have anyone else to do this. You go do this. Like, we trust you. We can do whatever we want with him. We know he's going to be prepared to play that position, have that matchup, and have the physicality and the athleticism to also match up physically with whoever they go up against. Very excited about Jonas Sanker, as you can tell. I think he's going to be a very good player for a long time, and I think this offseason, how quickly they've invested in to be like, okay, yeah, he is that guy. I'm excited about his future. Then you add in his ability to rush the passer, right? Against a quarterback that I wouldn't call, I think Jared Goff can move and he can extend plays, but obviously he is not a mobile quarterback. If you're getting Jared Goff to extend plays, Brandon Staley is very happy. That's the only thing you can really do to upset this rhythm is force Jared Goff to create. Jared Goff is a great game manager, and he's one of the best in the league at that. It's just, he's not a creator. He is not, Lamar Jackson, he is not. Yes, no, not even close. And Tyler Schuck, he is not, for that matter as well, in terms of the ability that Tyler has to be able to create second action plays and all those other things. Josh Allen, he is not. Right, Jared Goff doesn't necessarily have that. He is a timing and rhythm passer, which is not a bad thing, by the way. You build your offense around that, and then that's not a bad thing at all. We've seen that, we saw Brock Purdy just do that, although Brock Purdy has a little bit of escape ability to his game. I do think that the ability to rush the passer and his ability as a tackler in the run game is going to be under a microscope as well in terms of how it ends up being able to contribute, because obviously the one guy we haven't talked about stopping just yet is Jahmyr Gibbs, and that's a group effort. You're not stopping him, you're minimizing the impact as best as you can. It's pretty much what it is. Yeah, let him get his hoops and just focus on stopping everybody else. I mean, obviously, you want to slow him down. You can't just let him run free because he would just score every time. But you do just have to focus on slowing him down. I do think the Saints can at least run the middle of the field and hopefully shut that down and make it harder for him, because I do think their run defense, Christian Miller, I think, is pro. We saw that in the preseason. It's again, similar to Jonas Sanker. Christian Miller just has the IQ in the run game. He's a very smart run defender, knows what to do, knows where to have his hands, and then has the strength to, you know, make grown men look like high schoolers. And so have him, whenever he's rotating again, Devon Gotshaw is, you know, experienced. Vernon Broadden is a space eater up the middle that they didn't have last year. And I, you know, I, then it becomes, can Chase Young take a step forward as a run defender? I think that is somewhere where he needed to improve last year. He's already a solid run defender, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he's already there. And Carl Granerson, we know what he can do. Obviously, Cam Jordan hurts, but I think it's more of, more on the edges to stop, to slow down Jahmyr Gibbs, because I do have more confidence in the interior in that run game. Yeah, yeah. And Jahmyr Gibbs had one of the most explosive run percentages in between center and right guard, center and left guard all season last year. And so he is somebody that's going to look to attack the interior. So the stronger your interior is, the better. And if you have those edge setters on the side, that's certainly going to help as well. And then those linebackers from the second level shooting the gaps. So the last thing that I'll mention here as we wrap up on this piece is, Pete Werner had a 15-14% missed tackle percentage last year. Danny Sussman had a 5.4% mistackle percentage, and Caden Ellis had about a 6% missed tackle percentage last year. And so those guys being secure tacklers is going to be huge in terms of shooting those gaps, making those reads, getting those stops, and providing that additional run support. So we'll get into all that and we'll take a look at how all of this ended up going, Dylan, as we come back for the squad show tomorrow after The Saints end up playing. So make sure you come through for that. And if you're a Saints fan in New Orleans, make sure you come and see us Monday morning as well. Our friends over at Channel 4 and the Locked On Saints podcast and Locked On Saints hit collaborating. We'll be over at the PJ's Coffee on Canal. So come through and give us your day after, morning after thoughts. We'll be there from about like 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. So come through for all of that. Come and kick it with us. So we will see you there. For Dylan Sanders, I am Ross Jackson. We'll see you here on another episode of Locked On Saints Squad Show tomorrow. We appreciate you very much as always. Make this a party day part of your routine for saying yes to me and the show. If you see us, please say hi. And if you need anything else in between these episodes, make sure you find us on your favorite social media at Ross Jackson, N-O-L-A-N-D-I-L-L-Y, Sanders on your favorite social media. Hit us up. I remember the family's doing. Oh, go ahead. I remember when you got Ross Jackson, NOLA. I was so happy. I was so happy for me too. But make sure you hit us up. Let us know how the family's doing. Let us know how you live it. And of course, let us know how your mom and them. We'll see you next time here because trust us, we'll holler at you. Hey, NFL fans, I'm Brian Peacock and that is Matt Williamson, hosts of the NFL Six Pack part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. NFL Six Pack brings you the latest NFL news and analysis and breaks down all of the weekly action. A six pack of takes daily on the playoff pushed in the 2025 season, or if your team's in draft mode, yeah, we'll hit that too. All right here every day on the Locked On Podcast Network, the NFL Six Pack, subscribe on YouTube or everywhere you get your podcasts.
Takes mentioned in this episode
- Alvin Kamara player · negative
“questions mounting around Alvin Kamara's availability”
Discussion regarding the running back's health status for the season opener.
- Kendre Miller player · positive
“Kendre Miller who's going to be signing up for a big-time bounce back opportunity”
Analysis of Miller's potential role due to Kamara's injury.
- Detroit Lions team · neutral
“bounce back opportunity against Detroit”
Mentioning the opponent for the upcoming game.
- New Orleans Saints team · neutral
“You are Locked On Saints, your daily New Orleans Saints podcast.”
Introduction to the podcast team and focus.
- Travis Etienne Jr. player · positive
“Travis Etienne is going to be the workhorse, I guess, in this game”
Discussing the primary running back role for the game.
- Dallas Cowboys team · neutral
“since going back to that Dallas Cowboys joint practice”
Referencing previous practice sessions for conditioning.
- Buffalo Bills team · neutral
“That was the Buffalo Bills game in week four”
Referencing a past game where Kendre Miller performed well.
- Audric Estimé player · positive
“why I was excited about Audrick Estimé, what he could bring to this room”
Discussion on the potential of the rookie running back.
- New York Giants team · neutral
“I always think about that New York Giants rushing touchdown that he had out there”
Referencing a specific play by Kendre Miller.
- Travis Etienne Jr player · neutral
“complement in terms of doing things a little bit differently than Travis Etienne Jr”
Comparing rushing styles between players.
- Brian Branch player · negative
“we've talked about Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph being out, and that certainly hurts”
Mentioning key defensive players who are absent.
- Kirby Joseph player · negative
“we've talked about Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph being out, and that certainly hurts”
Mentioning key defensive players who are absent.
- Detroit Lions team · neutral
“As we preview like the Lions game specifically”
Previewing the upcoming matchup against Detroit.
- Oscar Delp player · negative
“Oscar Delp out for this game”
Reporting an injury to the tight end.
- Chris Olave player · neutral
“Chris Olave receiving yards”
Mentioning betting props on FanDuel.
- Kendre Miller player · positive
“you have to find a way to lean on Kendre. And I think this serves as a pretty good proof-it moment for Kendre”
Discussing Kendre Miller's potential role in week one.
- New Orleans Saints team · neutral
“the size of the secondary being something that the Saints can attack through the air”
Analyzing how the Saints can attack the opposing secondary.
- Alvin Kamara player · positive
“you're not going to get the route running from Kendre that you get from Alvin”
Discussing the versatility of Alvin Kamara compared to Kendre Miller.
- Tyler Shug player · neutral
“Tyler Shug passing yards”
Mentioning betting props on FanDuel.
- Yvonne Maddox player · neutral
“They signed Yvonne Maddox and Chuck Clark”
Mentioning new signings for the team.
- Devon Vailala player · positive
“just imagining Devon Vailay blocking for even Kendre or Travis Etienne”
Discussing blocking dynamics on screen plays.
- Chuck Clark player · neutral
“They signed Yvonne Maddox and Chuck Clark”
Mentioning new signings for the team.
