4 Saints players whose stock has changed during training camp

New Orleans Saints Trending Downward: 4. Nick Vannett

Start with the bad news first, shall we?

In truth, coaches and reporters alike tried to stay as positive as possible about training camp, and few had anything terribly negative to say about the current squad.

It also isn’t fair to judge a player based on a small sample size of plays, but that’s sort of the case here with tight end Nick Vannett.

On Day 3 of camp, some players lost the crispness and the pep from the first two days and lagged in concentration. This is when you see cracks start to form, and for Vannett, his errors could not have been more visible.

Vannett had one of those unfortunate everything-that-can-go-wrong-does days: during a team drill, he was whistled for a false start. The following play, he caught a pass from Winston over the middle but fumbled, and Marshon Lattimore made the recovery.

Okay, two mistakes made. Get it together. He won’t make a third one in a row, will he?

Minutes later, Vannett was whistled for another false start, pulled from the drill, and replaced by tight end Ethan Wolf.

One of the comments on Vannett’s training camp performance reads: “Someone should tell Nick Vannett that batting 500 is awesome in baseball, but not in the NFL which will get you cut.”

We seriously doubt Vannett will get cut this camp, especially not from just one poor showing. It’s more likely Vannett will shake this off, and by the week’s end he might even establish himself as the best pass-catching tight end on the field, though Adam Trautman has been more deserving lately.

Currently, Vannett’s stock takes a rough tumble. He’ll have to keep his feet steady and, inspirational courtesy from Troy Bolton, “get his head in the game” to recover this training camp.