The New Orleans Saints are starting the training camp practices in the next few days and here are a few things to keep an eye on as we are getting ready to kickoff the 2019 football campaign.

DEVELOPING THE YOUNG RECEIVING UNIT

Michael Thomas was marvelous last season catching 125 passes for 1,405 yards and nine touchdowns, but the next best wide receiver number wise was Tre’Quan Smith, who caught 28 passes for 427 yards and five scores.

Teams at the end of the 2018 season double-teamed Thomas and Alvin Kamara and forced the other receiving options to get open downfield.

The Saints have combated that sort of coverage scheme due to adding a very talented pass catching tight end in Jared Cook, who is a perfect fit for the Saints offense, but this team needs to develop a young receiving unit.

Healthy, the Saints know what they will get out of the speedy Ted Ginn, Jr., but he’s 34 years old and like all players if an injury occurs it takes a little longer to get back in the lineup.

The Saints coaching staff saw glimpses and are still very high on the receiving skills of Smith and Keith Kirkwood, but what they want to see from both is more improvement in their consistency to get open and further developing their ability to gain separation downfield. Both players flashed skills to be good NFL receivers, but they need to further their growth overall to make this a strong unit.

The Saints thought highly of veteran wide receiver Cameron Meredith when they signed him away from the Chicago Bears, but he continues to have issues with a knee injury that occurred in August of 2017. Meredith would give the team a huge target end who has played out wide and also in the slot, but he just has had issues getting back on the field healthy and he is a big question mark.

One player who was impressive in the Saints OTA’s was former University of Indiana and Washington Redskins wide receiver Simmie Cobbs, Jr.

The 6-foot-2 ¾, 225-pounder caught 72 passes for 841 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior in 2017 before turning pro early. Due to an ankle injury and an off-the-field issue, Cobbs went undrafted, but he impressed the Redskins coaches enough to put him on their practice squad before the Saints picked him up late in 2018. He looked impressive catching the ball and being physical getting separation downfield in Saints practices.

The Saints also picked up veteran wide receiver Rishard Matthews in mid-June and he looked good in the Saints practice sessions showing what I saw from him with the Tennessee Titans.

In 2016 and 2017, Matthews caught 118 passes for 1,740 yards and 13 touchdowns and he displayed excellent route running skills and the ability to come up with big catches in crucial situations, but he did not see eye-to-eye with the new Titans coaching staff and with his diminished role with new younger receivers and he was released in 2018. He caught two passes for 13 yards with the New York Jets in 2018. Whether Matthews can return to his 2016/2017 form or not will be interesting to watch this training camp.

And a fan favorite in former University of Texas wide receiver in "Lil" Jordan Humphrey will be given a long look.

Humphrey, a 6-3 ½, 215-pound end, caught 86 passes for 1,176 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior for the Longhorns in 2018. He has the skills to be an NFL receiver due to his size, length, his ability to make tough catches in traffic and he has some scoot after the catch, but he has also been a very inconsistent route runner, his concentration has been like a rollercoaster ride and he was not a noted downfield blocker.

IMPROVING RUN SUPPORT

At the Louisiana Line Camp, I asked New Orleans Saints defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen what was the one area he wanted the Saints to improve upon in 2019 and he made it clear, it was run support.

"Every year we look at things as a group and we need to get better in the coverage phase of the game, pass rush could get better and also in tackling, but the main thing is in run support," Nielsen said. "Everybody wants to talk pass rush, but its run support, that’s the key. In 2017 teams rushed the ball 406 times and averaged 4.4 yards per rush versus us. In 2018 we improved in that area. Teams rushed the ball 356 times against us for an average of 3.6 yards per rush. That needs to continue to get better. We put teams in long yardage spots more last year. There’s a big difference in calling an offensive play when you are third down and seven yards and third down and two yards. You try and take away that run option from them.

In 2017 we had 42 sacks and in 2018 we sacked the quarterback 49 times. That ability to put them in longer down and distance spots helped that part of the game. In 2017 teams threw the ball 554 times against us. Last year they threw it 573 times against us. We need to improve every phase of the game, but stopping the run with some moving parts upfront due to injuries and other elements (Achilles Injury to Sheldon Rankins and the one-game suspension to David Onyemata) is the key for us."

WHAT HAPPENS AT CENTER

Max Unger was the best offensive center for the Saints in the past 25 years and he will be hard to replace.

I think highly of Texas A&M center Eric McCoy and I truly believe he is the heavy favorite to start the opening game of the regular season, but the job won’t be given to him.

Veteran offensive center/guard Nick Easton has started in the NFL at both center and guard and will give McCoy a hard push for the starting spot and members of the Saints coaching staff have really praised the skills and improvement of former Southern Mississippi Golden Eagle center/guard Cameron Tom.

Starting at center as a rookie is a hard thing to do in the NFL, but McCoy is one really good football player and the Saints have some quality depth inside to start training camp.

NEXT STEP FOR TAYSOM HILL

We have seen Sean Payton use Taysom Hill across the board in a Saints uniform.

Hill has played quarterback, in the slot as a wide receiver and on special teams. It will be interesting to see what kind of wrinkle Payton has in store for Hill this season while he upgrades his skills as a passer at quarterback and maybe even used more as a receiver and at halfback in some down and distance spots.

-- NFL analyst Mike Detillier is based in Raceland.