After rough year, Saints ready for training camp
 

After a tumultuous 144 days, a training camp like none other in the New Orleans Saints’ 46-year history gets under way this week.

When 90 players report Tuesday for a team meeting that night with conditioning tests Wednesday, coach Sean Payton won’t be there — the result of a season-long suspension from a bounty scandal that rocked the NFL this spring.

Assistant head coach/linebackers coach Joe Vitt will be in charge, as he has been since Payton’s departure from the team in mid-April. But Vitt, too, faces a six-game suspension that will commence when the regular season begins Sept. 9.

General Manager Mickey Loomis was also suspended for eight games, while middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma was banned, like Payton, for the entire season. Defensive end Will Smith will sit out the first four games.

Other offseason distractions — an allegation that Loomis listened in on opposing coaches from his booth in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome between 2002 and 2004, Payton filing for divorce and Drew Brees’ protracted contract talks — weren’t nearly as damaging as the bounty scandal.

Still, the Saints say training camp will be business as usual when the first practice — one of 12 scheduled to be open to the public — is held at 4 p.m. Thursday at the team’s Metairie training facility.

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After rough year, Saints ready for training camp | Saints | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA

So am I

So am I

God me too. This is the beginning of my favorite time of year. The long wait is over. The hot summer is coming to an end and things will be cooling off with the holidays right around the corner. God I live for the fall and all things football.

I live for the fall too. Obviously for football, but also my other passion...Whitetail Deer Hunting!! Bring on the Bow Season!!!

I'm sooo ready for all football reports.