"Jake's going to be a stud"

Good morning, and welcome to the August 12 edition of the Saints Insider newsletter. I hope your game day routine is already in midseason form, and that you have someone who believes in you like Ronald Curry believes in Jake Haener.

No ordinary rookie

As you have probably heard by now, the Saints are planning to play their starters in Sunday's preseason opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. But this is the preseason, and those starters won't be in there long before they turn the game over to guys like rookie quarterback Jake Haener. 

Here's a bit of advice: Don't turn the game off when Haener comes in. 

The rookie from Fresno State has been very impressive through the first few weeks of training camp, showing all the traits that made the Saints trade up to draft him in the fourth round: Poise, confidence, intelligence, and, as Dennis Allen said, "moxie." 

There's no guarantee he's going to succeed in the preseason — in fact, Haener has not looked nearly as sharp in his last few training camp practices. But the Saints are very excited by the early returns. 

The first words out of quarterback coach Ronald Curry's mouth when I asked him about Haener: "Jake's going to be a stud."

No place like Dome

The Saints took their practice show to the Superdome Friday (photos here!), giving us our first look at quarterback Derek Carr in his new digs. 

There were Saints luminaries in attendance, including one future Hall of Famer who fielded a funny question from the new QB.

There was a new linebacker in attendance, wearing No. 59, and one less receiver, who was waived to make room on the roster.

And, most importantly if you're a football nerd, there were watchable 1-on-1 reps in the trenches. 

The flip side

This is the season of optimism in NFL circles, and most of what you're going to hear and read about this time of year focuses on the players who are standing out. 

But not everyone is off to a great start in camp. Here, columnist Jeff Duncan looks at the team through a critical lens and identifies the five Saints players who have stumbled out of the blocks.

There's plenty more where that came from over at NOLA.com (seriously, we've been very busy). Thanks, as always, for following our coverage and be on the lookout for plenty more of it this weekend when the Saints open up their preseason slate.

Cheers, 

Luke Johnson