SmashMouth

Ryan Griffin is no longer a rookie and no longer a dark-horse candidate to back up Drew Brees.

Griffin passed for more than 100 yards in a strong performance Saturday in the New Orleans Saints' first training camp scrimmage, intensifying his competition with veteran backup Luke McCown.

Both reserves had extra opportunities in the scrimmage because Brees was sidelined with a left oblique injury. Saints coach Sean Payton said Brees was "day to day."

As for his backups, Payton cautioned that it was far too early to declare a leader in the No. 2 quarterback race and both contenders will have ample opportunities in the four exhibition games to come.

"Both Luke and (Griffin) are doing well," Payton said.

Griffin was undeniably comfortable in the pocket, accurate in his throws and sound in his judgement.

He's no longer making rookie mistakes, offensive tackle Zach Strief said, because he's no longer a rookie.

"Quarterbacks have a lot of information to process, and the less you're processing, the more that just comes naturally," Strief said. "You come up and see a defense and you know it; you're not thinking about what it is. The more that they can do, the more comfortable they are, the easier it is for them to make a quick read or quick decision. Obviously at that position in this league, that's the whole deal: How fast can you make the right decision?"

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dizzle88

I've been a fan of griffin and loved it when we signed him as an UDFA

He already knows the offense well after playing it at Tulane, there are no doubts about him as a player either, you watch some of those throws he made in camp (the long TD to cooks) and they are right on the money!

K Major

Dizz,
I think it was you who posted another clip but that throw he made to Jimmy in stride was a thing of beauty. The ball was whistling....

dizzle88

Yeah it was the video I posted Major, that pass was definitely a beauty! Supposedly he has looked great in camp so far

QBREES9

I'm a fan allready. Good luck to to Ryan. Can wait to see you play in the Preseason.

Rugby Saint II

It would be nice if Griffin could take the #2 spot.

QBREES9

Lets hope he does!

billyt81

Can we realistically consider him as a candidate as Brees' heir? 6"4-6"5 but a 5.0 40 yd dash. How strong is his arm? Like everyone else Im pulling for him.

SaintLeonard

I don't think anybody can answer this question until Griffin actually gets some real game experience. And I'm not talking about preseason.

It's quite rare that teams can just replace starters with "developed" backups, especially at the QB position. Strictly going off of that, it's probably unlikely that Griffin will be Brees' replacement. But hey, I'd love to be proven wrong. It'd be pretty sweet if Griffin could take over.

The Dude

You never know, with Drews age and his arm beginning to get more noodley and noodley and limp wristed every year we made need Griffin this year.