New Orleans Saints: 3 pleasant surprises from camp so far
Surprises from New Orleans Saints camp – No. 2: Marcus Davenport
After three “meh” seasons, Marcus Davenport is running out of opportunities to shed that bust label that he’s rightfully earned to this point of his career.
The Saints — despite picking up Davenport’s fifth-year option — looked to hit the reset button in a way when they drafted Houston defensive end, Payton Turner, in the first round. Turner has been showing a lot of promise in training camp but that isn’t shocking from a rookie.
Maybe the drafting of Turner helped light a fire under Davenport, who has looked really good in training camp over the first nine practices. His best practice came on Thursday when he lit up the offensive line and notched 3-4 sacks on the day.
Saints DE Marcus Davenport was the standout player in Thursday’s practice with a potential 3-4 sacks in full-team drills. Lined up primarily against backup OT James Hurst with Terron Armstead getting a veteran rest day.
— Mike Triplett (@MikeTriplett) August 5, 2021
Sure, Davenport did this against a Terron Armstead-less o-line, but James Hurst is no slouch. If Turner ends up being the motivating factor for Davenport to play to his potential, then maybe that pick wasn’t so bad after all.
Hopefully, this level of play follows Davenport into the regular season.