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By John Sigler | Saintswire

A shortened summer without minicamps, organized team activities, and a full preseason has meant less practice time for rookies, so the New Orleans Saints are doing what they can to grease the runway for first-year players.

That apparently includes a position switch for seventh-round draft pick Tommy Stevens, a prospect out of Mississippi State. Before that, he was coached by Joe Brady at Penn State, where the one-time Saints assistant started putting together a versatile playbook that Taysom Hill would eventually make famous.

Back in April’s draft, Brady nearly recruited Stevens to join him with the Carolina Panthers. But Sean Payton wasn’t having it, ordering a bold trade to acquire Stevens and maybe tweak Brady’s nose at the same time. ...

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Nick Shook | Around The NFL Writer

The 2020 NFL season will feature one of its first big matchups in its very first week, but fans will not be able to attend it due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The New Orleans Saints' Sept. 13 home opener against Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be played without fans in attendance, the team announced Wednesday.

"While we have put together a comprehensive plan that will allow us to safely host fans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, that plan has always been dependent on how effectively we, as a community and region, are battling Covid-19," Saints president Dennis Lauscha said in a statement released by the team. "We have given this situation as much time as possible to see the type of improvement necessary to welcome fans into the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, but unfortunately, medical experts indicate that trends are not improving rapidly enough for us to begin the season with fan attendance. ...

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(Source: WVUE: Mark Lagrange)

By Chris Finch | WAFB

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The New Orleans Saints organization met with Gov. John Bel Edwards office and Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Tuesday (Aug. 11) to talk about attendance plans in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, according to NFL insider Jeff Duncan.

The three sides did not come to a final decision but said COVID-19 numbers would dictate how the season – at least as far as fan attendance – plays out.

Duncan, a Saints analyst and writer for The Athletic, said that team and stadium officials are prepared to open the season without fans if the state and city are still in Phase 2. There would be limited seating in the Dome if the city is in Phase 3.

A seating chart of 20,000 to 30,000 fans has been created if fans are allowed into the stadium. ...

Full Story - WAFB

New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton discusses line play during padded practices, newly acquired Nigel Bradham and more during Wednesday's training camp conference call

NewOrleansSaints.com

New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Training Camp Conference Call with New Orleans Media
Wednesday, August 12, 2020

With intelligence being such a high priority among your rookie class, have you seen them grasp it as well as you hoped it would?
"Yeah, I think it's gone pretty well. We went through a week and a half of walkthroughs and meetings. So you're giving them basically the installation schedule and then today was the first time essentially where we put helmets on. It was pretty much, again a walkthrough, but a little bit more practice structure, if you will, and I feel like that this young group is doing good, especially in light of not really having to do the minicamp that you normally would have in the spring. At some point here, when we go to pads, we'll start back at the beginning and truly go through a training camp install, but I feel like overall, John (DeShazier), it's gone well."

Historically, has it been more difficult for one or the other of those positions? Whether it be offensive line or tight end or linebacker or quarterback?
"Yeah, look, it's (a) good question. Certainly, there's a challenge for every first year quarterback just with the volume of information and what they're doing. But, I've found over the years that the other players that are smart enough and pick things up well enough to play a lot of different positions. And conversely, there's some...

Credit - Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

Jarrett Bell | USA Today

Sean Payton was on the phone, talking numbers. Big numbers.

The New Orleans Saints have 179 people — players, coaches and staff — designated as either “Tier 1” or “Tier 2” under the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols for their role and proximity to the team. Payton, who in March became the first known NFL figure diagnosed to contract COVID-19, tries to compute the possibilities while pondering the merits of the “soft bubble” the Saints are operating under during training camp and perhaps into the season.

“Every night, we’ve got 170 stories,” the head coach explained to USA TODAY Sports.

A “story” is an account of how someone could be exposed to the virus.

“Hey, some stories are safe ones,” he added. “Some stories are long ones. The one assistant coach who had it, his nanny got it in Florida. She was in the house when he was there. So, those stories can vary. But, nonetheless, when you’ve got 170, man, you’d better recognize, that’s a lot of stories.” ...

Full Story - USA Today