Saints 2022 Training Camp: 3 major standouts from first week

After a solid first week of training camp, which New Orleans Saints players shone the most?

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the defensive unit was the clear winner of camp as stalwarts like Marshon Lattimore and Demario Davis came out to dominate.

The talk of the town surrounded the return of Michael Thomas, who looked fit as a fiddle in his first on-field appearance in almost two years. Yet with Jameis Winston still rehabbing his knee, the Saints’ passing attack will need to wait before it can start developing chemistry and evolve into a humming efficient unit.

While NOLA’s offense still contains more questions than answers, the defense showed up big time and wreaked havoc all over the field.

Here are three major standouts from the first week of camp, all of whom happen to be defenders.

Saints’ standout No. 3: Payton Turner

Defensive end Payton Turner is hoping to make a giant Year 2 leap in 2022, and he’s certainly getting his season off to a good start.

The 2021 first-rounder enters his second year with much higher expectations than before as Turner looks to inherit the pass-rushing throne from veteran Cam Jordan.

Turner’s injury-plagued rookie season saw him play just five games and record one sack, but if he can stay healthy in 2022, he could still live up to his franchise-starter potential. During the first two days of camp, Turner recorded at least one bull-rush sack and a tackle for loss on running back Devine Ozigbo.

Turner ended up getting plenty of reps last Thursday due to the absence of Cam Jordan, and he made a noticeable impact on the edge. Whereas fellow pass-rusher Marcus Davenport remains on the PUP list, Turner is playing his way into a starting spot come September, showing his natural instincts at the position coupled with explosive speed and refined technique.

It’s too early to make any rash assumptions, but Turner appears to be on track to enjoy a productive second season in NOLA.

Saints’ standout No. 2: Paulson Adebo

Twitter agrees, so it must be true: Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo is having the best training camp of any player on the team.

We recently wrote how Adebo was balling out in the first few days of camp, and he finished the week strong with a pair of pass breakups on Tuesday. Adebo also enters Year 2 having made a strong case for himself as a starting corner last season, and the young buck is simply picking up where he left off in 2022.

His direct competition, rookie Alontae Taylor, also made some nice plays in camp, but by and large Adebo looked the most dominant and was draped all over the Saints’ wideouts drill after drill.

Heading into the season, Adebo battles Taylor and veteran Bradley Roby for the starting corner spot next to Marshon Lattimore. While Taylor needs more time to develop and Roby offers more value as a decent backup, Adebo is poised to secure the CB2 position… as long as he continues to play well in preseason.

Adebo has already separated himself as a cut above the rest of the competition, but can he stay up there?

Saints’ standout No. 1: Andrew Dowell

Now there’s a name you don’t see in the headlines every day. Saints linebacker Andrew Dowell sits toward the back end of the depth chart behind Pete Werner, Kaden Elliss, D’Marco Jackson, and Zack Baun, but that doesn’t mean he’s not giving 100 percent on the field.

Dowell joined NOLA back in 2020 and has since played 17 games (starting none) for the Saints and recorded just 15 combined tackles. He featured in 77 percent of snaps on special teams, so New Orleans may consider him more of a situational utility player than a starting defender, yet Dowell is making his name known this training camp.

For the last two years, Dowell has been working hard at honing his craft and has developed into a useful defender for the Saints. He may not see much of the field in 2022, but his attitude and competitive spirit benefits everyone in camp and he sets a high standard of excellence for all players.

This season, Demario Davis and Pete Werner are the projected starting linebackers for the Saints, and barring injury, it’ll be difficult for another linebacker to break into the starter rotation.

Nonetheless, Dowell knows his worth, and the Saints do, too. Expect the special teams gem to keep putting in the work at camp and push his teammates to be better, faster, stronger, and all of the above.

Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, and other fan-favorite Saints players will no doubt take their turns in the spotlight in 2022, but this week of training camp belongs to the Andrew Dowells of the team.

They deserve the recognition even if it’s just preseason.