MarkIngram

Susanna Weir·Aug 11

Coleman — who Head Coach Sean Payton said last week has been one of the "pleasant surprises" of camp so far — was also heavily involved

throughout the day. Nix credited Coleman's college experience with allowing him to hit the ground running at training camp this summer. "You can tell he came from a developmental system in college," Nix said. "... They did a lot of versatile things. So, I think when he gets here, it's not as big of a jump and he's familiar with the verbiage, familiar with the positions that we're putting him in, and he's just responding well. He's great out of the backfield, he can run routes, he can catch, he's explosive. As a running back, his strength is going to be running between the tackles and being physical. I think with how our offense is evolving, with how our running back position goes, he does a really good job of being able to do both: run and catch the ball out of the backfield."

Nick Underhill·Jul 20

And I understand that Alvin’s about to be 31 and isn’t the same type of game changer he used to be. But I still believe his versatility, vision and generational balance can bring an added dimension to this offense that other backups such as Devin Neal or Audric Estime wouldn’t. It was just two years ago that Alvin averaged more than 100 yards from scrimmage per game. And I trust Kellen Moore and this offensive staff to be smart and creative about how to use him effectively in smaller doses. That’s always been the best way to use Alvin — even in his prime. Sean Payton used to talk about how he liked to keep Alvin on a pitch count while pairing him with partners like Mark Ingram and Latavius Murray. On the flip side, Alvin has always looked most human when the Saints didn’t have other options and kept running him into a brick wall between the tackles. Now he can be a 1B or even a 2 behind Travis Etienne, but that takes pressure off of both of them, not to mention @Kendre Miller , who now feels like a bonus player than a critical health concern.