New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton knows there is a lot of uncertainty with everything in the world right now, so he doesn't want his players worrying about when they are going to have to come back to the facility.
The team is planning on coming back for training camp, and even if the NFL decides in person minicamp can happen in June, the Saints won't be participating:
“I didn’t want them thinking, ‘Oh, next month, honey, the facility may be back open and then we’re gonna be going into minicamp,’” Payton told Albert Breer of SI.com. “Because, honestly at that time, and even still today, no one really knows if that can happen. We think we’re gonna have a training camp, but no one knows anything about the offseason, relative to OTAs or minicamp. So I wanted them to focus on two things: Handle your family and their well-being, and begin to get yourself in fantastic shape.
Payton also knows how important it is for players to be with their families right now and understands that there is plenty of time later before the season starts for the X's and O's:
“Don’t worry about the X’s and O’s right now, you’ll have plenty of time for those. So our players are lifting at home, and getting credit for it. But we’re not gonna spend all afternoon on Webex meetings with Drew Brees and Michael Thomas and Marshon Lattimore. We’re just not gonna do that. . . . And even if the skies parted and the league said, Hey, guess what? In the month of July, we’re allowing this. Well, we’re not gonna be interested in doing that. We’ll be ready when training camp starts.”
Even if some teams do get minicamp, everyone is still basically in the same boat, behind where they usually are most offseasons at this point.
The Saints also have Brees, Thomas, Kamara, Lattimore, and many more veterans back. Those veterans should help them once training camp starts to get adjusted.
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