When Jordan Mims signed with the New Orleans Saints last year, the main storyline surrounding his arrival was his connection to another rookie on the team — Jake Haener. Mims and Haener played together at Fresno State, of course, and becoming teammates again as pros was a cool bit of trivia if nothing else.
But he’s working to make the most of his latest opportunity. Mims was already practicing ahead of Kendre Miller, last year’s third-round draft pick, before the latter exited the first day of training camp with a hamstring injury. Now Mims is getting even more touches and snaps at practice to prove to the coaches what he can do.
“Young Mims,” center Erik McCoy grinned when asked about him on Saturday. “I’m a Mims fan. I feel like he’s a guy not a lot of people know about. Just because they picked him up last year in Week 2, maybe Week 3. But even throughout all of last year, and seeing him on the P. Squad, seeing him go against our defense, I thought ‘This kid can go.’ I think throughout this camp you can just see that even more. He can go.”
What’s interesting is how poorly Mims fits the Saints’ established preferences at running back. He weighs in at just 6-foot-0 and 205 pounds, 10 pounds lighter than Alvin Kamara and 20 pounds under Jamaal Williams, and he didn’t exactly blow everyone away in his pre-draft athletic testing. Mims was given a 1.46 Relative Athletic Score after timing the 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds, poor results for an athlete his size.
Still, the Saints clearly saw something in Mims when they signed him. McCoy sees it now. Just look at his production in college. Fresno State asked a lot of him; Mims ran the ball 680 times across five seasons with the Bulldogs while catching 91 passes, scoring a combined 45 touchdowns in 59 games. And he has a lot of success running in former Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford’s zone-heavy blocking scheme, which shares many of the same principles Klint Kubiak is installing with the Saints. That could give him an edge over other backups like James Robinson and Jacob Kibodi — to say nothing of Miller’s status.
Let’s keep it realistic. Alvin Kamara will dominate touches out of the backfield, though the Saints are determined to get more out of Jamaal Williams than they did last season. And Taysom Hill is an X-factor, too, as he’s effectively been their best rusher in recent years. Mims won’t be taking anything away from those guys on top of the depth chart. But he could be more than a challenger for Miller.
Remember, another undrafted running back (Pierre Thomas) once took a fourth-round pick’s job (Antonio Pittman) in the New Orleans backfield. If Mims runs hard this summer and flashes the same vision and playmaking ability he did in college, he might not just make the team. He stands to benefit from every practice session Miller spends in the trainer’s room.
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