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The New Orleans Saints have continued to churn their roster by bringing in players let go by other teams, with rookie cornerback Bryan Mills signing with the team after a tryout. Pro Football Focus’ Doug Kyed first reported that Mills signed with the Saints, which was confirmed by NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill. Underhill previously reported that Mills was in town for a tryout, though the Saints didn’t file it on Tuesday’s update to the daily NFL transactions wire.
Mills doesn’t fit the athletic profile the Saints have valued at cornerback lately. While he’s tall and long (6-foot-1 with 32-inch arms), he’s underweight at 174 pounds and timed poorly in NFL Combine drills, timing the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds flat and putting together a low Relative Athletic Score (2.94). He participated in this year’s Senior Bowl and initially landed with the Seattle Seahawks but was waived last week.
Still, Mills showed ball skills in his last year at North Carolina Central with five interceptions and 13 passes defended through a dozen games. If he can add weight and make a splash in training camp, maybe he lands on the practice squad.
But he isn’t the starting-quality corner the Saints have been searching for. Right now, Marshon Lattimore and Ken Crawley are the projected starters to open the season against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers — unless promising rookie Paulson Adebo unseats Crawley in these next few weeks, or if the Saints are able to bring in a real contender. For now, they’re still looking awful thin at this position group.
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