Tag: Zach Wood

Saints name four first-time team captains for 2023 season

The Saints have named four first-time team captains for the 2023 season, including former AFC West rivals Derek Carr and Tyrann Mathieu:

This is really cool: the New Orleans Saints have named their seven team captains for the 2023 season, and four of them are first-timers (in New Orleans, anyway). The team has experienced a lot of turnover in recent years while endeavoring to add talent and remain competitive in the wide-open NFC, so it’s not too surprising to see new names in leadership positions.

Just three of last year’s six team captains are wearing the captain’s patch again this season, and the group has grown to seven players in total.

Two of these first-time Saints team captains are former rivals in the AFC West. Derek Carr is a captain on offense (replacing Jameis Winston), and his old foe Tyrann Mathieu is a new captain on defense (swapping out for Alvin Kamara within the group’s total count). And center Erik McCoy is a captain on offense for the first time, too (replacing Ryan Ramczyk). Long snapper Zach Wood will be wearing the captain patch on special teams (expanding the group from six to seven in total).

Here’s the full list, per Nola.com’s Jeff Duncan:

Saints share epic highlight reel for long snapper Zach Wood

The Saints re-signed long snapper Zach Wood, celebrating with a highlight reel of his best plays from last season | @ClutchWDN

The New Orleans Saints retained their long-snapper Zach Wood on a four-year extension earlier today. With this, they also posted something pretty special that we rarely see on social media: a long snapper highlight reel. Giving credit to one of, if not the most under-praised positions on an NFL team is pretty great to see, especially one such as Wood who has been exceptional in his six seasons with the Saints.

Last season, Wood took 141 snaps according to Pro Football Reference, and his long-snap accuracy was on point per usual. He graded out with an 81.9 special teams grade in the Pro Football Focus premium stats section.

Overall, Wood has been exceptionally talented in his time with New Orleans, and with another four years added to his contract, he will be remaining with the team for the foreseeable future.

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Saints sign 4-year contract extension with long snapper Zach Wood

The Saints signed an extension with long snapper Zach Wood, keeping one of their most underrated players on the team through 2027:

Now that’s what you like to see: the New Orleans Saints announced a four-year contract extension with long snapper Zach Wood, tying him to the team through 2027. Wood was one of several players we highlighted as priorities for new deals this summer, having become one of the team’s most underrated assets for his steady work on special teams. His presence is appreciated by teammates Wil Lutz and Blake Gillikin, who joined him for the formal signing at the team facility on Friday.

Wood’s arrival to New Orleans was more tumultuous than you’d expect. Back in 2017, the Saints were so unsatisfied with a training camp competition between Thomas Gafford and Chase Dominguez that they released both players and brought back veteran snapper Justin Drescher, who appeared to have lost his touch. That led them to trade for Philadelphia Eagles fan-favorite Jon Dorenbos — only to rush him into heart surgery after discovering a career-ending aortic aneurysm during his physical. Wood took part in a group tryout just days before the regular season started, won a roster spot, and he hasn’t looked back since.

This is the second extension the Saints have signed with Wood, now 30 years old; he previously inked a four-year deal back in 2020 after playing out his rookie contract. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reports that Wood received $2.3 million in guarantees, which would rank among the highest figures in league history for a long snapper (New York Jets specialist Thomas Hennessy currently leads the NFL with just over $2.6 million, per Over The Cap records). Hopefully Wood can continue to do his job well and be a part of the solution for New Orleans.

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3 players the Saints should sign to contract extensions before training camp

Cameron Jordan and Cesar Ruiz are among the players the Saints should sign to contract extensions before training camp, via @DillySanders:

The NFL training camp begins in July for the New Orleans Saints and the rest of the league. One of the main focuses up until that point will be ironing out some important contract extensions for players in the last year of their deals.

The Saints currently have 26 players on their roster that will have expiring deals next year. The mission will be figuring out who the most important players will be, in terms of securing their spots for the future and what price point you want to have these players at.

Here are the three most important players that the Saints need to prioritize:

Tyrann Mathieu among 4 Saints players who received All-Pro votes for 2022

Tyrann Mathieu is among 4 New Orleans Saints players who received All-Pro votes for 2022, along with Demario Davis and a couple of special teamers:

Veteran safety Tyrann Mathieu is among several New Orleans Saints players who received votes for the Associated Press 2022 All-Pro teams, along with linebacker Demario Davis and a couple of special teamers. Davis was the only player out of the group to be selected for the annual All-Pro list (he made the second team for the third year in a row), but three of his teammates also received ballots in their favor.

It’s a bit of a step down from past years when the All-Pro teams were littered with standout Saints players, but it’s still good to see some of them receive this recognition. We’ll take the silver linings we can get after such a difficult 2022 season. This year, first team votes were valued at 3 points and second team votes were set at 1 point, leading to cumulative totals from the AP’s 50 ballots. Here are the four Saints players who received All-Pro votes:

Demario Davis finally gets his first Pro Bowl nod, Tyrann Mathieu is an alternate

Demario Davis has been selected for his long-overdue first Pro Bowl appearance, making him the first Saints linebacker at the event since Jonathan Vilma in 2010:

Finally. The New Orleans Saints only had one player listed on the initial 2023 Pro Bowl roster representing the NFC, but it was a well-earned recognition for linebacker Demario Davis. The 11th-year pro has played the best football of his career after signing with the Saints in 2018, and though he’s earned All-Pro nods he’s never been named a Pro Bowler — until now.

Good for him. Davis was repeatedly snubbed for the Pro Bowl in recent years, so it’s great to see him get over the hump like this and strike that off his to-do list. He’s the first Saints linebacker selected for the Pro Bowl since Jonathan Vilma in 2010. This Pro Bowl selection also earned Davis a nice $500,000 bonus.

Will any of his Saints teammates join him at the all-star event? NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reports that several players were selected as alternates, so they could get in if their peers are unavailable:

  • Safety Tyrann Mathieu
  • Fullback Adam Prentice
  • Long snapper Zach Wood

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Saints stock up on emergency options, sign long snapper John Denney

The New Orleans Saints signed veteran long snapper John Denney to their practice squad, adding another emergency option against COVID-19.

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The New Orleans Saints aren’t leaving anything to chance or COVID-19. They’ve added another specialist to their practice squad by signing long snapper John Denney, per his agent Ian Greengross.

Denney, 42, visited the Saints three times this season as a free agent. While he hasn’t played in two years, he was coached into a couple of Pro Bowls with the Miami Dolphins by current Saints special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi. He worked out alongside veteran kicker Blair Walsh twice in recent weeks, who also signed with the Saints practice squad.

So add them to the pile of “just in case” backups, along with practice squad quarterback Trevor Siemian and rookie punter Blake Gillikin (on injured reserve, where he can return from at any time). If everything goes according to plan, the Saints will continue marching through the playoffs with Drew Brees starting at quarterback, Wil Lutz at kicker, Zach Wood at long snapper, and Thomas Morstead at punter. But if any of them suddenly become unavailable, New Orleans has a fallback plan.

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Long snapper Zach Wood cleared from NFL’s COVID-19 protocol

New Orleans Saints long snapper Zach Wood again tested negative for COVID-19, clearing him from the NFL’s new protocol.

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Here’s some expected good news: New Orleans Saints long snapper Zach Wood retested negative for COVID-19 again, his second such result after being designated to the new reserve/COVID-19 list earlier this week. News of Wood’s successful retest was first reported by Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football and confirmed by Katherine Terrell of The Athletic.

This means that Wood is in the clear to rejoin the Saints at their Metairie practice facility, once he’s formally activated in a filing with the league office. Because the NFL’s new COVID-19 rules and regulations limit teams to strength and conditioning exercises at this stage of training camp, the Saints likely weren’t disrupted much by having their only long snapper out of the lineup for a few days.

Still, they’ll be happy to get Wood back in the fold. He’s a cornerstone of the special teams unit, sign through 2023 along with kicker Wil Lutz; punter Thomas Morstead’s contract runs through 2022. That sort of stability has to be appreciated.

The Saints have come a long way from their tumultuous 2017 training camp, when they auditioned three different long snappers (Justin Drescher, Thomas Gafford, and Chase Dominguez) and traded for a fourth in longtime Philadelphia Eagles specialist Jon Dorenbos — whose entry physical revealed a life-threatening heart condition. Wood flew into town for a last-minute tryout two days before the season opener, won the job, and has quietly held it down ever since. Here’s hoping for more nonchalant success (and good health) for him.

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Saints long snapper Zach Wood retests negative, still in COVID-19 protocol

New Orleans Saints long snapper Zach Wood passed his first retest after being designated to the reserve/COVID-19 list, but must do so again.

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One of the two New Orleans Saints players designated to the reserve/COVID-19 is already on his way off of it, having twice retested negative for a coronavirus infection: second-year linebacker Kaden Elliss. That leaves veteran long snapper Zach Wood as the only member of the Saints on the reserve list as he awaits the results of his second retest.

Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football first reported that Wood’s initial retest came back negative, and added that Wood will receive the results from his second retest on Saturday. If that is also negative, he will be allowed to rejoin the team.

Wood signed a four-year contract extension with the Saints earlier this summer that makes New Orleans’ special teams situation one of the most stable in the league; with punter Thomas Morstead inked through 2022 and kicker Wil Lutz signed through 2023, all three specialists are under contract for the long haul.

In a normal year, Wood’s early-training camp absence would have been something of an emergency. But the Saints are limited to running strength and conditioning drills at this stage in the rump-up period, per the NFL’s new COVID-19 rules, so the loss of a long snapper won’t destabilize things just yet.

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Saints designate their first two players to COVID-19/reserve list

The New Orleans Saints placed linebacker Kaden Elliss and long snapper Zach Wood on the COVID-19/reserve list on Thursday’s NFL transactions

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The New Orleans Saints tested their entire roster for COVID-19 infections when players arrived for training camp last week, and they were one of a few NFL teams to not report any positive cases.

That changed on Thursday’s update to the NFL transactions wire, when the Saints placed linebacker Kaden Elliss and long snapper Zach Wood to the COVID-19/reserve list. Details are confidential, but this means that they either tested positive themselves or came in contact with someone who had. They will need to test negative twice before they can rejoin the team.

Elliss, 25, joined the Saints last season as a late-round draft pick out of Idaho. His path to the roster lies on special teams, though he’s shown some of the athleticism and smarts needed to be more than a backup on defense. As for Wood: the 27-year old out of SMU signed a four-year contract extension with the Saints earlier this summer, and it’ll be interesting to see how the Saints replace him during his absence. Free agent tryouts are difficult right now given how busy doctors are in fighting a public health crisis.

Hopefully neither Elliss nor Wood will be seriously affected by the coronavirus. Some additions to the COVID-19/reserve list should have been expected, even if the Saints got off to a great start in training camp. Saints coach Sean Payton has been the first to acknowledge that cases will be inevitable in a contact sport with such large rosters.

It’s also worth noting that false positive test results are possible; Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is one recent example. So we should look for some movement on these situations in the days ahead.

The Saints had two players opt out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the NFL deadline for opt outs passed by without more of their teammates joining them, which was also expected. So they’re all in for the long haul.

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