Hello and good morning. Welcome to the Saints Insider newsletter for Tuesday, August 13. With the Saints' first preseason game over, it's time to take stock of where the team's roster battles stands — and our Luke Johnson has you covered. Luke examined six spots up for grabs: Wide receiver 3Left guardWeakside linebackerSafetyPunter KickerHis analysis is definitely worth checking out. And if you want to read more about the kicker battler specifically, I wrote how Charlie Smyth's game-winning kick set him up well in his competition with Blake Grupe. . Joint practice bummerThe competitions are alive and well, but unfortunately for the Saints's coaching staff, they'll have to evaluate the positions without joint practices against the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers called off the sessions because of injury concerns, which is a bummer because they would have been a "tremendous opportunity" for New Orleans. Stealing Simmons? The New Orleans Saints made waves last week when they hosted All-Pro safety Justin Simmons for a visit. They night not like the final result. Simmons remains unsigned and is reportedly now set to meet with the Atlanta Falcons. Could you imagine the reaction if the Saints lose out on Simmons to their chief rival? Yikes. Anyway, that's all for today. We've got another week here in California and then will be home to New Orleans. This camp has flown by. Thanks as always for reading. Take care, Matthew Paras |