Breaking! Official 2024 Saints UDFA Class: currently 16 Signings & 19 R-Minicamp Invites (2 Viewers)

[bobad]

Camp Beast for sure.

Holker's 40 time is probably awful, but I've seen him outrunning DBs in the open field.

 

[Silverfox]

Aaron Brule from Michigan is my cousin. I’m excited that the home team is giving him a shot.

We need your logo services for the Pelicans rebrand sir

 

[BBarnes]

So if a player receives multiple invites to rookie camp. How long does he have to decide which team’s camp he chooses to attend?

 

[SAINTSFAN]

Average opp LOS after his punts is the 21 (20.6) yard line which is similar to the top 10 net-average punters’ opponent 22-18 yard line range. He gets the job done in field position like the top punters.

I think until there’s another punter who replicates top 5 least return yards, top 5 IN20 and pushes the opp LOS further back behind the standard avg opp yard line, Hedley will be the punter. It’d have to be done more than him during preseason games. It looks like opp yard line and return yards allowed is evaluated a little higher than net average since those directly show where the punter is putting his defense on the field after his punts more than yard averages.

That can be a misleading stat. A lot of that is dependent on where he is punting from. Part of that is due to the failure of the offense to get into scoring position. Many punters could place the ball at the 21 if they are punting from say the 50.

If you take out the 4 players with just a few punts, he is 33rd in average (in a 32 team league) and 27th in net average. Watching the games, it was obvious that he is just not a good punter. We need an upgrade there.

 

[SaintKenn]

I honestly never understood why we went away from Gillikin to Hedley.

 

[PanicFootball]

Aaron Brule from Michigan is my cousin. I’m excited that the home team is giving him a shot.

I saw that name and thought "He played at Rummel! RAIDER PRIDE!"

Good luck to him.

 

[WxM]

So if a player receives multiple invites to rookie camp. How long does he have to decide which team’s camp he chooses to attend?

That's up to the team but it's probably a pretty quick turnaround. If you're not willing to try out, someone else is.

Declined invites rarely get mentioned. When you see players mentioning two teams that invited them, what they're really saying is they get to try out for two different teams in consecutive weeks. About half the teams have their mini-camp one week, and the rest hold theirs the next week. It seems like the Saints are always on the second week. This kind of annoys me; if a player impresses with the first team he tries out for, they can sign him and the Saints are out of luck. They can fill the spot, sure. But they missed out on a player that was good enough to sign elsewhere, and the player they're filling his camp spot with was very likely not wanted by anyone else to even try out.

 

[rsmith2783]

Can't wait to see Jacob Kibodi

 

[msusaintsfan]

Man I hope Preston Snith and Aaron Brule get signed. Mississippi State DTs are pretty good in the NFL. Loved loved loved Brule at State and hated seeing him transfer. Fast hard hitting sideline to sideline LB.

 

[Kegger]

That can be a misleading stat. A lot of that is dependent on where he is punting from. Part of that is due to the failure of the offense to get into scoring position. Many punters could place the ball at the 21 if they are punting from say the 50.

If you take out the 4 players with just a few punts, he is 33rd in average (in a 32 team league) and 27th in net average. Watching the games, it was obvious that he is just not a good punter. We need an upgrade there.

Fully agree. Net avg is the gold standard for punting effectiveness. Hedley was burned a bit there by us stalling a lot at midfield, but he still lacks the ability to boom punts when we need it.

 

[Infoman]

I honestly never understood why we went away from Gillikin to Hedley.

Hedley's punts look like crap... But the Saints wanted more fair catches, less returns, less return yardage, and no TDs given up on punts.... Hedley provided all of that... The Saints lead the NFL in nearly every category I just listed because of Hedley's goofy looking but effective punts.

https://www.footballdb.com/stats/teamstat.html?group=D&cat=PR&yr=2023&lg=NFL&sort=pryds

 

[SonOfNOLA]

I honestly never understood why we went away from Gillikin to Hedley.

IIRC Gillikin had many 27-39 yarders going OOB around the opp’s 45-35 yard line frequently in 2022. Saints weren’t satisfied with Gillikin outkicking his gunners and giving up 10+ yard returns after the 55 yard bombs. Elite leg, terrible directional skills. He wasn’t a good punter for the Saints coverage unit. Good punting is more field position than yards avg.

 

[SonOfNOLA]

 

[kcirdor]

What do you know about the RB out of ULL?

ULL ? ewww its called Louisiana.

and my joke fell flat, its ok. edit: ah.. I see why... the image that said OC Sincere Haynesworth, Tulane... is no longer in the OP.

 

[St. Widge]

I honestly never understood why we went away from Gillikin to Hedley.

I think they like the idea of an Aussie Rules style punter who can hit different kinds of punts depending on the situation and Gilikin was very inconsistent as I recall.

I'm not sure Hedley was better than Gilikin but I can see why they would have wanted an upgrade with more consistency and I see why they like the idea of an Aussie style punter. Hopefully the kid from Vandy is good.